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AASTP-03
The national Competent Authority for Class 1 dangerous goods in each NATO nation, which classifies the ammunition and explosives a company designs, produces or moves
AASTP-03 sets NATO's hazard classification system for military ammunition and explosives. A national Competent Authority classifies each item, and the classification feeds storage, transport and facility-licensing decisions downstream.
AASTP-03 is NATO's policy for the hazard classification of military ammunition and explosives, and it covers only items belonging to UN Dangerous Goods Class 1. It adopts the United Nations system used to classify dangerous goods for transport, then adds NATO-specific requirements that extend that system to the storage and processing of ammunition and explosives. This is Edition B, Version 1, promulgated in June 2026, a substantial rewrite of the previous edition. NATO nations record their agreement to use this publication in STANAG 4123.
AASTP-03 names its addressee plainly, and it is not a company. The document states that "it is the responsibility of the Competent Authority of each nation to define acceptable classification procedures within their nation, as well as to determine the acceptability of classifications issued by the Competent Authority of other nations when importing ammunition and explosives from those nations." Neither the word supplier nor the word manufacturer appears anywhere in the document. A hazard classification under this system is not a certification of the company that made the item; it is a technical judgement the Competent Authority makes and confirms, using data about the item's design and whatever test evidence the classification calls for. A different nation's Competent Authority then decides independently whether to accept a classification issued elsewhere when the item is imported: agreement between nations on the classification system itself does not guarantee agreement on every individual classification.
Under the UN system, ammunition and explosives are usually assigned to Dangerous Goods Class 1, which divides into six Hazard Divisions describing the nature of the hazard: from items with a mass explosion hazard, through projection and fire hazards of varying severity, down to items that present no significant hazard or are extremely insensitive. AASTP-03 augments that base classification with two further layers used specifically for storage and processing: storage subdivisions of two of the Hazard Divisions, which give the quantity-distance calculations used to site and license storage facilities more precision than the bare UN divisions provide, and sensitivity groups, which describe how susceptible certain items are to sympathetic detonation and are used where a storage structure's own design is relied on to limit that risk. The document sets out detailed technical criteria for both, which is a matter for the Competent Authority and the item's own design and test data, not something this page summarises. Both additional layers remain a national choice even after a nation signs up to this publication: NATO defines them, but each Competent Authority decides for itself whether to use them in its own classification procedures.
A hazard classification under this system drives three downstream decisions. For transport, it determines how a shipment is packaged, labelled and documented. For storage, the NATO guidelines for storing ammunition and explosives use it, together with explosive-mass figures this document also defines, as the basis for the quantity-distance calculations that decide how a facility is sited and licensed - and where the two documents disagree, the storage guidelines take precedence. NATO also recommends a common format for recording classification data, so a classification travels with an item in a consistent shape: identifying the item, the classification itself, the Competent Authority that issued it, and the basis for the classification, whether that is testing, comparison to a similar item, or a legal exemption.
AASTP-03 is published by the NATO Standardization Office and, like every NATO standardization document, it carries no charge. The NATO Standardization Documents Database is the authoritative source, and a national standardization authority can also supply a copy. We credit NATO for the catalogue and neither sell nor host a copy ourselves.
AASTP-03 is an operational and technical standard, not a management-system standard: the classification work itself happens in engineering data, testing and a national Competent Authority's decision, not in software, and nothing here changes that. What a company working with this system typically needs to hold is the documentation around it: the design and test data a classification submission draws on, a record of what classification was assigned to which item and by which Competent Authority, and the trail connecting that classification to the storage licence, transport documentation or import approval it fed into. That is the kind of evidence ComplyTrain is built to hold and keep current: documented procedures for compiling and submitting classification data, controlled versions of the classification record itself, and training records for the people who prepare it, in the same way it holds evidence for any other standard a customer's contract invokes.
What ComplyTrain does not do: it does not classify ammunition or explosives, does not perform or interpret the tests a classification can call on, and does not act as or replace a national Competent Authority. Which classification, and which downstream storage, transport or licensing standard, your product needs to meet is set by the Competent Authority and by the contract or export licence that invokes AASTP-03, not by us. The standards explorer shows what else sits alongside AASTP-03 in this catalogue, and we are glad to talk through what your programme's documentation trail needs to look like.
Tell us how you need to work with AASTP-03 and what you need from it. We will come back to you about what ComplyTrain can do.
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No. AASTP-03 describes a hazard classification, not a certification. A national Competent Authority classifies an item, and a different nation's Competent Authority decides separately whether to accept that classification when the item is imported. Neither NATO nor any accredited body certifies a company or a product under this system.
The national Competent Authority for Class 1 dangerous goods in the country concerned. AASTP-03 states that it is the responsibility of that Competent Authority to define acceptable classification procedures within its own nation, and to decide whether to accept a classification another nation's Competent Authority has issued when importing an item.
AASTP-03 defines how an item's hazard classification is determined. AASTP-01 is the storage standard that uses that classification, together with explosive-mass figures AASTP-03 also defines, as the basis for siting and licensing storage facilities. Where the two documents disagree, AASTP-01 takes precedence.
NATO nations record their agreement to use it in STANAG 4123, so it binds through that agreement rather than by simply existing. Even so, some of its NATO-specific classification layers remain a national choice: each Competent Authority decides for itself whether to apply them. For a company, AASTP-03 reaches a product through whichever contract, tender or import process calls for a Class 1 hazard classification.
This page describes Edition B, Version 1, promulgated in June 2026, which supersedes Edition 1, Version 3. It is a substantial rewrite intended to remove duplication with the underlying UN texts and align hazard classification with related assessment disciplines.
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