New Seal Standards – March 1, 2012
Please be advised 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 new standard has the following compliance requirements:
1) Testing to determine a seal’s classification for physical strength (as barriers of entry); 
2) Process auditing of the manufacturer’s security-related business practices;
3) Testing (and PASS grade) of a seals ability to indicate evidence of tampering;
4) A new 18mm minimum width diameter for bolt seals.
The new seal standard requires documentation of compliance by properly accredited test laboratories or business process auditors, which must have ISO 17712 included in their scope of competence.
Mechanical seals, which have not been certified as complying with the new compliance requirements after March 1, 2012, will not be accepted as ISO compliant seals.
Third Generation of the ISO 17712
ISO 17712 (2010) was first published in September 2010 and included an 18-month transition period (to March 2012) to deal with technical issues. The new standard is the third generation of 17712. The first was a Publically Available Specification (PAS) published in 2003 and the second was a revision to PAS 17712 published in 2006. Each revision builds on previous requirements.
We encourage our members to utilize their existing seals already in stock and to carefully plan future seal purchases to ensure that seals affixed to containers as of March 1, 2012 are compliant with ISO IS 17712:2010.
Benefits of the new seal standards include the reduced possibility of:
Cargo theft or tampering;
Unauthorized material being inserted into the container;
Shipping delays that result when seals are missing or broken.
For more information please visit the World Customs Organization (WCO) website at www.wcoomd.org or contact the PIP program:
Partners in Protection (PIP): PIP-PEP@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca
UPDATE:
From: industry.partnership@dhs.gov [mailto:industry.partnership@dhs.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 2:50 PM
Subject: Notice of New High Security Seal Standards Update
This message is to clarify the notice sent to all partners on February 7, 2012—Notice of New High Security Seal Standards—March 1, 2012. The message advised C-TPAT partners that the new International Organization for Standardization (ISO) mechanical seal standard (ISO 17712:2010 ) is scheduled to become effective on March 1, 2012, and recommended that certified companies begin phasing in ISO 17712:2010 compliant seals after their current stocks of high security seals have been exhausted.
Since the issuance of the previous notice, C-TPAT has learned that the tamper evidence element of the ISO 17712:2010 requirements (Clause 6) cannot be met. To date, no accredited independent laboratories have been willing to test and certify seals as complying with the tamper evidence requirement. Consequently, C-TPAT has determined that implementation of the new standard is not viable by the March 01, 2012 deadline.
C-TPAT has also become aware that the ISO is working to amend ISO 17712:2010 to address the issue with this standard. Therefore, implementation of the new ISO 17712:2010 standard for mechanical seals will be delayed until C-TPAT receives definitive information that ISO has resolved this issue. C-TPAT partners will be advised when the ISO has resolved the tamper evidence issue with the ISO 17712:2010 standard.
Since the ISO 17712: 2010 (18 mm) certification for high security seals is attainable without the Clause 6 testing portion of the standard, C-TPAT encourages partners to buy seals that meet this part of the standard. If C-TPAT companies decide to transition to seals that meet this portion of the new ISO standard, they should request documentation to confirm that the purchased seals comply with the current testing requirements for ISO 17712: 2010 (18 mm) certification.