This document provides requirements and recommendations in designing consumer packages, independent of material, to increase accessibility with regard to handling and manipulation. The document considers packaging needs from a wide range of users with diverse human abilities and needs in diverse contexts of use.

Handling and manipulation include human physical abilities like holding, lifting, carrying, pulling, pushing, sliding, grasping, twisting, tearing and any combination of those actions related to portability, opening, re-closing and taking out contents of packages as well as to storage and disposal. Requirements and recommendations with regard to those abilities are provided for people with special needs including older people and people with disabilities in their handling and manipulation of packages. This document focuses on physical handling and manipulation which necessarily includes the processes of opening and closing specifically detailed in ISO 17480. It applies to reclosable and non-reclosable consumer packaging without using any other mechanical means.

This document is primarily for designers, developers and evaluators of packaging and is also useful for other disciplines.

Handling and manipulation for transportation of packaging is not covered in this standard. It does not apply to products regulated for safety or other reasons (e.g. toxic or dangerous goods and substances, medicinal products, and medical devices).