Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : CR EIC 111/2/16

　12 August 2008

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 416/2008

US : Maritime Container Seal Requirement

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published in the Federal Register (FR) notices of 7 August 2008 a reminder to the trade community that all maritime containers shipped to the US must be equipped with container seals by 15 October 2008. A copy (pdf format) of the FR notice is appended to this circular for reference.

DETAIL

2. The US laws require the government to establish minimum standards and procedures for securing containers in transit to the US, otherwise the International Organization for Standardization Publicly Available Specification 17712 (ISO/PAS 17712) shall apply. In the absence of the former, CBP issues the FR notice to bring the attention of the trade community that all loaded containers, including foreign cargo remaining on board, arriving by vessel at a port of entry in the US on or after 15 October 2008, are required to be sealed with a seal meeting the ISO/PAS 17712 standard. After 15 October 2008, containers shipped without a seal, or with seals that do not meet security requirements, may be subject to civil penalties. In addition, vessel carriers must transmit all seal numbers to CBP 24 hours before loading the container onto a vessel for shipping.
    
3. Generally, ISO/PAS 17712 sets standard for strength and durability so as to prevent accidental breakage, early deterioration, or undetectable tampering under normal use. Certain containers that cannot be readily secured by use of a container freight seal meeting the standard (e.g. tanks, open top containers, custom built containers, etc.), are exempted from the requirement.

ENQUIRIES

4. For enquiries concerning the content of this circular, please contact Miss S Y TANG at telephone number 2398 5405.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss WONG Ying)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry