National Office - Customs rule for US

Containers to be sealed for US

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From October 15, 2008, the US Department of Homeland Security (US Customs and Border Protection) has required all ships' containers in transit to the US be sealed with a seal that meets the International Organisation for Standardisation Publicly Available Specification ( ISO/PAS) 17712 standard. Padlocks do not meet requirements.

This does not include containers that are not readily able to be secured by normal seals such as tanks, non standard containers (for example open top containers) and custom built containers.

In New Zealand, the Customs Service approved ‘Secure Export Scheme’ seals and the seals jointly approved by Customs and the NZ Food Safety Authority that are used by Secure Export Scheme partners exceed the ISO/PAS 17712 standard.