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AMovP-06

AMovP-6 multi-modal transportation of dangerous goods directive

Nations that implement the standard, and the commanders and personnel, such as dangerous goods safety advisors, certifiers, packers, drivers and instructors, who carry out the movement of military dangerous goods

AMovP-6 is NATO's directive for the multi-modal transport of military dangerous goods, agreed by nations under STANAG 4441 and covering how consignments are classified, packed, marked and moved by road, rail, sea, inland waterway and air.

Edition
C
Published
2020-07

What it is

What AMovP-6 governs

AMovP-6 is the NATO Allied Movement Publication that governs the multi-modal transport of military dangerous goods: their classification, packing, marking, labelling and documentation before a shipment moves, the identification and use of the right transport asset, loading and unloading, filling and unfilling of tanks, and temporary storage while goods are in "transport status" - a status running from classification for transport through to unpacking afterward. Nations record their agreement to use it in STANAG 4441. Its stated aim is to reduce risk to security, safety, health and the environment when dangerous goods used by military forces cross public traffic areas, and to add guidance for the parts of military inventory the civil international agreements on dangerous goods do not cover. It "is not intended to be a substitute either for international codes, or for national regulations, but should be used in conjunction with them."

Who it addresses

AMovP-6 speaks to countries "which implement this standard," which it requires to identify to the commanders of their forces "the responsibilities and duties relating to this standard." Through those commanders, it reaches the people who actually classify, pack, certify, drive and instruct: it names "dangerous goods safety advisors, certifiers, packers, drivers, or instructors" directly, and requires them to be properly trained and to have access to the relevant DG regulations. It applies "to the nations participating in missions tasked by NATO," and NATO members and partners may additionally "apply this standard as their national standard for dangerous goods transport." It does not address suppliers or civilian transport companies in its own terms; where military transport capacity runs short, the document treats civilian transport as a resource commanders draw on, not as a party it binds directly.

Applicability across borders

Crossing a border between partnering nations invokes AMovP-6 "in relation" to STANAG 2455/AMovP-2B's specific sections for road, rail, inland waterway, sea and air movement, and that publication's general parts "as applicable." Transiting a non-participating nation's territory instead brings "local rules of a (non-NATO) host nation" to bear. Nations can, and do, ratify with reservations: Belgium limits its education about the standard to staff who handle the waiver process, Germany reserves the right not to implement the training requirement because national training standards differ, and France reserves the right to apply less restrictive national rules on its own territory.

Class 1 ammunition and explosives: classification and hazard distance

Most of this base document's substantive detail concerns Hazard Class 1, ammunition and explosives. They must be classified under STANAG 4123 into one of six Hazard Divisions and thirteen compatibility groups; AASTP-03 lists the national authorities empowered to approve that classification. Ammunition "should not be laden with incompatible classes of DG, unless otherwise specified in SRDs," though there is no legal bar on sharing a container with unregulated general cargo if the risk is properly weighed. At an accident scene, firefighting continues under standard operating procedures until cargo containing Hazard Division 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 or 1.5 risks being engulfed by fire, at which point crews withdraw to a safe distance, a default of 500 metres, subject to national deviation. Where fire already touches the packages, no firefighting should be attempted, and personnel should evacuate, take cover and expect an explosion. Packages involved in an accident cannot continue their journey until an ammunition expert has certified them safe to move again.

Packaging and moving between transport modes

Packaging is not prescribed down to the material: anything meeting the UN standard for containment, or approved by the national competent authority, will do, provided it will not break open or spill, and neither reacts with its contents nor forms a dangerous combination with them. Where road or rail carriage precedes or follows sea or air carriage, ICAO-TI/IATA DGR or IMDG Code rules can be followed instead of AMovP-6's own. Freight-container requirements are "an integrated part of AMovP-5."

Training and certification

No NATO-wide DG training standard exists yet, even though national training standards do, so military personnel need training in both military-specific and civilian commercial DG procedures, and no untrained person may carry out self-responsible duties identified in DG regulations. Training must cover at least the subjects set out in AMovP-6's own SRD 1, and graduates need a nationally approved training certificate, ideally showing the training category in English as well as the national language. Because civilian DG qualifications tend not to meet military requirements on their own, personnel who trained and certified only through a civilian institution need supplementary military DG training, and anyone newly assigned to a DG transport role should be supervised until they can work autonomously.

What it does not cover

AMovP-6 sets no retention period for training, classification or incident records. This base document also does not itself contain the mode-specific technical requirements for road, rail, sea, inland waterway or air transport, or the training syllabus in detail - those sit in the eight Standards-Related Documents, AMovP-6.1 to AMovP-6.8, that it repeatedly points to. And it names no certification body, notified body or organisational audit scheme of its own: the only approvals it describes are a national authority's classification approval and a nationally issued personnel training certificate, both narrower than certifying an organisation.

How we help

AMovP-6 is an operational and technical directive, not a management-system standard: classifying a consignment, packing and marking it, checking a freight container, deciding whether incompatible dangerous goods can share a load, and judging a hazard distance in an emergency all happen on the ramp or in the depot, not in software. Where ComplyTrain helps is in holding the procedures this directive implies and the evidence a commander or a national classification authority would expect to see: training records and nationally approved certificates for dangerous goods safety advisors, certifiers, packers, drivers and instructors; the pre-shipment classification and packaging checklist; the incident record and ammunition-expert sign-off before a damaged consignment continues its transport; and the national reservations and deviations that actually apply to a given movement. ComplyTrain does not classify a hazard division, pack or mark a consignment, judge a hazard distance in an emergency, or certify that a damaged package is safe to keep moving - those calls stay with the trained personnel and the ammunition expert the standard itself names.

Which tier of AMovP-6, and which of the STANAGs and Allied Publications around it, applies to a given movement is set by the tasking, the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by this page. See the standards explorer for what sits alongside AMovP-6, and talk to us about the evidence trail behind it.

Standards it references

Questions

Is AMovP-6 mandatory?

Not by itself. Nations commit to it by ratifying STANAG 4441, and a nation can ratify with reservations, as Belgium, Germany and France have each done. Whether it applies to a given movement comes down to the national authority, NATO tasking, or contract behind that movement, not the existence of the document.

What is the difference between AMovP-6 and STANAG 4441?

STANAG 4441 is the agreement: the record of nations agreeing to use AMovP-6. AMovP-6 is the Allied Publication that actually contains the directive, the classification, packaging, hazard-distance and training requirements for moving military dangerous goods.

Can ComplyTrain get us AMovP-6 certified?

No such certification exists. AMovP-6 names no certification body, notified body or accredited scheme; the approvals it describes are a national authority's classification approval under AASTP-3 and a nationally issued personnel training certificate, both narrower than certifying an organisation.

Does AMovP-6 cover all classes of dangerous goods?

This base document's detailed requirements are almost all about Hazard Class 1, ammunition and explosives. Other dangerous-goods classes and the detailed requirements for each transport mode sit in AMovP-6's own subordinate Standards-Related Documents, AMovP-6.1 to AMovP-6.8, which this document frames but does not itself contain.

Does AMovP-6 replace civil dangerous goods regulations like ADR or the IMDG Code?

No. AMovP-6 states plainly that it "is not intended to be a substitute either for international codes, or for national regulations, but should be used in conjunction with them." It adds military-specific guidance where civil agreements are silent, rather than replacing ADR, RID, ADN, the IMDG Code, ICAO-TI/IATA DGR, SOLAS or the CSC.