STANAG 2939 minimum requirements for blood, blood donors and associated equipment

What it is

STANAG 2939 is the NATO Standardization Agreement covering minimum requirements for blood, blood donors and associated equipment, in the form of the Allied Medical Publication AMedP-1.1, Edition B. This is Edition 7, promulgated 13 July 2026, superseding Edition 6 of 3 September 2018; this edition's own stated addition is that "categories of blood and blood component sources are added".

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 2939's own text is short and administrative: an aim, two interoperability requirements, the commitment to implement AMedP-1.1, a list of other related documents, and the ratification, implementation and review machinery. Participating nations "agree to implement the following standard", and the standard named is AMedP-1.1, Edition B. Anyone working out donor eligibility, testing, processing, labelling, transport, storage or traceability requirements needs AMedP-1.1's own text, not this cover agreement, which does not itself set out any of that detail.

What it commits nations to

The stated aim is interoperability, "to respond to the following interoperability requirements": a Common Blood Concept that includes a regulatory framework enabling blood and blood components to reach "as near to the point of need as practicable", and the exchange of blood and blood components between NATO Forces by way of the minimum requirements AMedP-1.1 sets. Once a nation implements the agreement, it commits to adopting "standardised equipment, in form, fit and function, to facilitate collection and transfusion of blood and blood components" and to exchanging information on blood management processes and procedures with other nations. Cross-acceptance between nations is explicit: if blood and blood components are acceptable within the supplying nation's own regulatory framework and this agreement, they are acceptable for use by NATO.

Who it binds, and how

STANAG 2939 binds nations, not blood establishments, equipment suppliers or donors. It is effective "upon receipt for use by the participating nations and NATO bodies", and a given nation becomes bound to it through ratification, which NATO records in the NATO Standardization Documents Database (NSDD). Reporting duties differ by status: Allies and NATO bodies "shall provide implementation details through the electronic reporting tool", while partner nations are only invited to do the same. The document names no NATO-wide effective date - its own "NATO Effective Date (NED)" field reads "Not applicable" - so a blood establishment or supplier meets AMedP-1.1's requirements only where a nation has implemented the STANAG and a contract or tender says so.

How it's evaluated

STANAG 2939 describes no certification scheme and no audit of a company, a blood establishment or a product; it never uses the word "certified" or "certification" anywhere in its text. What it describes is nations reporting their ratification and implementation status to NATO, recorded in the NSDD. Where a blood establishment's work against AMedP-1.1's requirements is actually checked, the assessor and the evidence required come from the supplying nation's own regulatory framework and from whatever contract or national process invokes AMedP-1.1, not from this STANAG. A blood establishment's own licence, where one is required, is held against that national regulation, not against this agreement.

Standards it references

STANAG 2939 covers AMedP-1.1, the Allied Medical Publication that carries the actual blood, blood donor and equipment requirements. Reviews of the STANAG itself run under AAP-03. Its "Other Related Documents" list a further set of civil and national material without describing how any of it interacts with AMedP-1.1's requirements: three blood-labelling systems (ISBT Code 128, the French Monarch Code, and Eurocode IBLS), United States blood regulation (CFR Title 21 and the AABB's standards for blood banks and transfusion services), the UK's Blood Standards and Quality Regulations, Canada's Health Canada blood guidance and regulations, an EU directive on quality and safety for human blood and blood components, a newer EU regulation on substances of human origin, and two Council of Europe references edited by EDQM covering blood supply contingency planning and the preparation, use and quality assurance of blood components. None of these sit in our catalogue, so they are named here rather than linked.