This part of ISO 18185 specifies requirements for the data protection, device authentication and conformance capabilities of electronic seals for communication to and from a seal and its associated reader. These capabilities include the accessibility, confidentiality, data integrity, authentication and non-repudiation of stored data.

The protection of this information is provided through a radio-communications interface providing seal identification and a method to determine whether a freight container’s seal has been opened.

This part of ISO 18185 specifies a freight container seal identification system, with an associated system for verifying the accuracy of use, having:

This part of ISO 18185 is intended for use in conjunction with the other parts of ISO 18185.

This part of ISO 18185 is designed to facilitate electronic device authentication. For mechanical seals, the seal manufacturer is able to determine the authenticity of the device if and when necessary, e.g. to determine the unauthorized opening of the seal. There are electronic authentication methods which can provide similar validation without visual inspection. This part of ISO 18185 provides only the guidelines for those methods.

This part of ISO 18185 applies to all electronic seals used on freight containers covered by International Standards ISO 668, ISO 1496-1 to ISO 1496-5 and ISO 8323 and should, wherever appropriate and practicable, also be applied to freight containers other than those covered by these International Standards.