Email notice sent by Department of Homeland Security:

From: 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.