NATO - UID of Items

International UID of Items provides a basis by which the global supply chain shares in multi-national logistics coordination ensuring delivery of the right and necessary item(s) to the right destination at the right time.

International support for UID is rapidly growing and industrial partners are improving their capabilities. Activities surrounding UID Standards in NATO Working Groups and member nations has increased. The NATO Standardization Agreements (STANAG), published by NATO, provides common military or technical procedures for NATO members. The NATO Standardization Agreement for UID, STANAG 2290 (Edition 1) was ratified by 19 NATO nations and promulgated in January 2009 by NATO. It includes the accepted structure for the implementation of UID of Items.

In March 2009, the Netherlands published a mandatory UID/AIT clause requiring UID on contracts. Other European nations are close behind with NATO exploring ways to help spread UID adoption.

More recently NATO released a guide titled NATO Guidance on Unique Identification (UID) of Items (July 2010). This provides detailed instructions for implementing UID across the independent member countries. This document includes proper marking of items that require UID and the exchange of UID data between organizations.

You can find the guide at http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/stanag.htm#auidp