What it is
STANAG 1185 is the NATO Standardization Agreement covering AMedP-1.2 Edition A, the Allied Medical Publication on minimum essential medical and survival equipment for life rafts. This is Edition 3, promulgated 5 July 2013, superseding Edition 2 of 11 March 2013.
A STANAG is not the specification
A STANAG is the agreement by which NATO nations commit to implement a standard, not the technical specification itself. STANAG 1185's own text is short: an aim, an interoperability requirement, a list of related documents, and the ratification and reporting machinery. The essential and additional item lists, and the survival guidelines themselves, are specified in a separate publication, AMedP-1.2 Edition A, which the STANAG names as the standard participating nations "agree to implement". Anyone actually specifying, stocking or checking that equipment needs AMedP-1.2's own text, not this cover agreement.
What it commits nations to
The stated aim responds to an interoperability requirement: that the navies of NATO nations "adopt the list of essential items as the components of the first-aid medical equipment for ship life rafts and a list of additional items for survival and rescue, as well as the guidelines to be followed for survival". The document names three other related publications alongside AMedP-1.2 without incorporating their content: STANAG 1269, described there as a NATO Handbook on Maritime Medicine and identified as "AMedP-11"; an International Maritime Organization resolution; and ISO 18813:2006 on survival equipment for survival craft and rescue boats.
Who it binds, and how
STANAG 1185 binds nations, not suppliers. It becomes binding on a given nation through ratification, which NATO records in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD), and it "is implemented when the necessary orders/instructions have been issued directing the forces concerned to put the content of this agreement into effect". Participating nations are then "strongly encouraged to utilize the guidelines and recommendations included herein in providing survival equipment for life rafts", and the guidelines "should be available in ships and ship life rafts" on an ongoing basis, not as a one-off design step. Nations report implementation using Annex H of AAP-03(J); Partner Nations report adoption using Annex G of the same publication. A supplier or manufacturer meets AMedP-1.2's requirements only where a national procurement or contract cites it - this STANAG sets no obligation reaching a supplier directly.
How it's evaluated
STANAG 1185 describes no certification scheme and no audit. What it describes is nations reporting their own ratification and implementation to NATO, recorded in the NSDD, and a review of the STANAG itself "at least once every three years". Nobody is "STANAG 1185 certified", and the document never uses that language. The International Maritime Organization resolution and the ISO standard it names are listed as other related documents, not as certificates held against this STANAG.
Standards it references
STANAG 1185 covers AMedP-1.2, the Allied Medical Publication that carries the actual equipment lists and survival guidelines. Nations report adoption and implementation using the Annex G and Annex H forms of AAP-03. Its "Other Related Documents" also name STANAG 1269, described there as a NATO Handbook on Maritime Medicine and identified as "AMedP-11"; an International Maritime Organization resolution; and ISO 18813:2006, "Ships and marine technology - Survival equipment for survival craft and rescue boats". None of the three is in our catalogue as a linked record.