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DHS and CBP Announce New C-TPAT Mechanical Seal Standards

02/11/2012

 The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border          
Protection (CBP) recently announced that effective March 1, 2012, the current  
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) mechanical seal standard  
(ISO/PAS 17712) will be replaced with a new ISO standard--ISO 17712:2010.  The
change will directly affect the seal standards within the Customs-Trade        
Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) security criteria.  While the notice    
from DHS and CBP indicated companies are not expected to discard seals        
currently in stock, purchases of replacement seal stock should be compliant    
with the new ISO 17712:2010 standard.                                          
                                                                               
Benefits of the new seal standards include:                                    
- Reduced possibility of cargo theft or tampering.                            
- Reduced possibility of unauthorized material being inserted into containers  
or other instruments of international traffic (IIT).                          
- Reducing shipping delays that result when seals are missing or broken.      
- When inspecting seals for signs of tampering, tamper-evident seals should    
allow personnel, with the appropriate training, to detect compromised seals    
more easily.                                                                  
                                                                               
It was also suggested that when C-TPAT companies transition to the new ISO    
17712:2010 compliant seals, they should request documentation to confirm that  
the purchased seals comply with the new standard.                              
                                                                               
Expeditors, as a certified and validated C-TPAT Consolidator, will continue to
meet all C-TPAT requirements, including the updated seal requirements.        
  Expeditors Newsflash, (206) 674-3400, expeditors.newsflash@expeditors.com    
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