ISO/PAS 28005-1:2012 provides necessary guidance information related to electronic port clearance (EPC), such as message transmission requirements, business scenarios, message structures and software requirements. Within the context of ISO/PAS 28005-1:2012, EPC includes the activities that a user, such as a ship's master, a shipping agency or a ship owner undertakes to submit electronic data to appropriate organisations to approve or reject the clearance for the ship to enter or leave a port.

ISO/PAS 28005-1:2012 defines XML message structures for transmission or information between a ship or its representatives and certain organisations responsible for the processing of the ship's port clearance request. The information to be transferred is that which is defined by the FAL Convention and other related international instruments as defined by ISO 28005-2. These mesage structures are primarily intended for machine to machine data transfers.

ISO/PAS 28005-1:2012 allows different configurations of the single window (SW), from a minimum solution to support basic clearance requirements to a more complex system to facilitate more extensive cooperation between ship and shore organisations.