Official customs seals and trader sealing (notice 205)

You should read this notice if:

• your work involves the use and inspection of seals applied for customs purposes
• you are a trader and wish to use your own seals in place of official seals

Find out if your goods need sealing

UseThe the following guidance toexplains findif more information about whether your goods need sealing:

• Check if you need to declare goods you bring into or take out of the UK
• European Commission Transit Manual
• UK Supplement to the Transit Manual

This list is not exhaustive.

To find out more about the use of seals by contact imports and exports: general enquiries.

Check official customs seals

An official customs seal is an indicative seal that a customs officer may apply to identify goods under customs control. It may be applied in addition to a trader’s commercial seal.

IfIf, in the UK, you receive goods in the UK secured by an official customs seal, you must inform your local HMRC control office as soon as they arrive.

Unless you’re an authorised consignee, you must not remove an official seal without prior approval from customs. Unauthorised breakage or removal of an official seal is an offence under Customs and EU law.

In the UK there isare one2 typetypes of official customs seal currently in use.

How to recognise the typesAcme ‘T’ lock

The Acme ‘T’ lock consists of a metal strip inserted into a flat locking box. The metal strip is 230 millimetres long.

This seal can show either ‘HMC&E’ or ‘HMRC’. The current version bears certain identification marks and a unique serial number.

The underside of the box is in ‘British Racing’ green.

How to recognise the ACME ‘T’ lock seal

The ACME ‘T’ lock ‘HMRC’ version was introduced by HMRC on 1 July 2008.

These seals were introduced to reflect the change of name of the department and are being used concurrently with the Leghorn cableseal wire sealseals. Until the old version is withdrawn, you may encounter both designs.

The bodyunderside of the box is made‘steel’ grey in colour.

How to recognise the Leghorn cableseal wire seal

The body consists of painted aluminium. It bears the words ‘Customs GB’ and a serial number.

The cable is made of steel wire, 1 millimetre in diameter and 180 millimetres long.

HowApply to apply to use your own seals

Under certain conditions, you may be authorised to use your own seals for securing goods under customs control. Seals provide an additional way to identify the consignment. To check if your goods need to be sealed, read the relevant notices listed in the ‘Find out if your goods need sealing’ section of this guide.

You must apply for authorisation under Article 233(4)(c) of EU Regulation 952/13 and Articles 55 paragraph 1 (b) and 81 of the Common Transit Convention.

You will need to meet the conditions of Article 39(a), (b) and (d) of EU Regulation 952/13 and Article 57 (2) of the Common Transit Convention. You are deemed as meeting these conditions if you’re an authorised economic operators (AEO).

To request an application form, email: national-simplifications.ccto@hmrc.gov.uk

You canshould applysend tothe useapplication form, with all supporting evidence to:

HM Revenue and Customs
National Simplifications Team
CCTO
BT-CCTO
BX9 1EH

If your ownapplication seals.is rejected, you will be sent a pre-notification ‘Right to be Heard’ letter, which will explain the reasons why.

How to meet the standards

If you’re authorised to use your own seals in place of official customs seals, you must:must meet the following conditions:

1. You must keep all seals and sealing equipment under lock, with the key being held by a responsible person of your companycompany.
2. You must keep a permanent stock record whichshowing mustthe bereceipt, producedserial tonumbers, ause customsand officerdisposal onof requestseals, which showsmust the:
   • receipt
   • serialbe numbers
   • useproduced ofto thea seal
   • disposalcustoms ofofficer theon sealrequest.
3. You must regularly inspect and balance your seal stocks to preventguard against interference or substitutionsubstitution.
4. keepAll all defective seals, and used seals you remove after use, must be kept available for inspection by customs
5. agreecustoms, howwith whom you willmust disposeagree ofa themethod sealsfor withtheir customsdisposal.
6. clearlyThe show the marks and numbers of the seals used must be clearly shown on documents accompanying the goodsgoods.
7. applySeals may be applied or removeremoved theonly sealsby yourselfyou or allowby only responsible employees youauthorised haveby authorisedyou to act for you apply the sealsyou.

YouWe shouldstrongly onlyadvise you to use legitimate manufacturers’ seals.

International standards

Seal requirements are set out in Article 301 of the Union Customs Code Implementing Regulation (2015/2447). These requirements are assumed to be met by any seal that conforms to the International Standard No 17712: 2013 ‘Freight containers — Mechanical Seals’.

Seals with high-security features should be used for containerised transports whenever possible.

Customs should accept seals approved by EU member states, unless they specifically state otherwise.

UK standards

The seals must:

• remain intact and securely fastened in normal use
• be easy to check and recognise
• be made of a material that:
  • is resistant to accidental breakage
  • prevents undetectable falsification
  • leave traces of any breakage or removal that are visible to the naked eye
• be designed for single use or, if intended for multiple use, be designed so they can show a clear, individual identification mark each time they are used
• each showbear a permanent unique identifying mark and be serially numbered and used in sequence

Identification marks of seals must be impossible to falsify and difficult to reproduce.

The form and dimensions of the seals can vary depending on the method of sealing used. You must make sure that identification marks are easy to read no matter what the dimensions of the seal are.

TraderSeals sealsacceptable whichto are accepted by HMRC from 20 June 2022

The types of trader seal that we accept for control purposes fall into the following groups.groups:

We

Group	Description
1	Seals alsothat acceptcan barwithstand boxa force of 1,000 kilograms (security seals)
2	Seals that can withstand a force of 250 kilograms (indicative seals)
3	Other acceptable seals
Bar box group	Seals used to secure aircraft bar boxes. boxes

Group 1 — seals that can withstand a force of 1,000 kilograms

We accept the following seals:

• Acme Bolt seal
  
• Athelyn Ltd, Athlock 3.5mm Cable Seal
• 
  Lockie Limited T/A JW Products 3.5 millimetre cable seal
• 
  Mega Fortris cable lock 350
• 
  Mega Fortris cable lock 500
• 
  Mega Fortris container bolt lock
• 
  Mega Fortris Klicker 2K bolt seal
• 
  Mega Fortris Klicker bolt seal
• 
  Megafortris MCLZ 500
• 
  Mega Fortris Mega cable lock 350
• 
  Mega Fortris Mega cable lock 500
• 
  OEM Secureloc
• 
  Oneseal Daneseal
• 
  Tydenbrooks Flexsecure FS35
• 
  Tydenbrooks Flexsecure FS50
• 
  Tydenbrooks Snaptracker
• 
  Unisto Ferrolock Anti-spin
• 
  Unisto Hi-Genius bolt seal
• 
  Universeal (UK) Ltd Locktainer 2020 SH Magnum

Group 2 — seals that can withstand a force of 250 kilograms

We accept the following seals:

• Mega Fortris cable seal MCLZ 250
• 
  Mega Fortris cable breakaway 250
• 
  Mega Fortris cable breakaway 500
• 
  Mega Fortris Mega lock
• 
  Mega Fortris —– MCLS 150
• 
  Mega Fortris Mini cable lock premium 2k
• 
  Mega Fortris Mini cable lock premium MCLP 150
• 
  Mega Fortris Mini cable lock premium MCLP 180
• 
  OEM Secureseal
• 
  Oneseal 79-T06 Anti-spin
• 
  Tydenbrooks EZloc 1/8 inches
• 
  Tydenbrooks Ezloc 1/16 inches
• 
  Unisto Ferrolock standard
• 
  Universeal Flexigrip 150M

Group 3 — other acceptable seals

We accept the following seals:

• 
  Acme ‘T’“T” seal
• 
  Mega Fortris Domino FL metal strip seal
• 
  Mega Fortris Domino SP metal strip seal
• 
  Mega Fortris Mega Twister SP
• 
  Olimp SRL Meterlock
• 
  Tydenbrooks Ballseal
• 
  Universeal Dickey Globe metal strip seal

IfWhat anto incidentdo happensif whenyou usingdiscover an official customs seal orhas yourbeen owntampered sealwith or broken

IfThis yousection discoverapplies ato sealofficial hasseals beenand tamperedif withyou oruse brokenyour own seals.

If the breakage is found on:

• your own premises, you should report the facts to your local control office
• a vehicle or container and there’s also extensive damage to the vehicle, container or goods, you should report to your nearest customs office immediately
• a vehicle or container in which you’re carrying goods under customs control, you should report to customs at your destination as soon as you arrive there

TheIn all cases, the customs officer may ask you to explain how any seal breakage and damage occurred.

In all cases of unauthorised seal breakage, you must get a customs officer’s permission before you remove or unload the goods originally secured by that seal.

If

What to do if an accident or other incident occurs during the transport of the goods

This section applies to official seals and if you use your own seals.

You must notify customs of the accident or incident as soon as possible.

Whenever possible, you should get prior authorisation from customs to break seals or transfer goods from one vehicle to another.

An account of the incident must be noted on the transit declaration. The goods and the declaration must be presented to the nearest customs authority. When customs are content that the operation may continue, they will reseal the goods and endorse the declaration accordingly.

Your rights and obligations

Read the HMRC Charter to find out what you can expect from us and what we expect from you.