What it is
STANAG 3474 is the NATO Standardization Agreement covering temporary flying restrictions due to exogenous factors affecting aircrew. This is Edition 6, promulgated 19 July 2018, superseding Edition 5 of the same STANAG.
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 3474's own text is short and administrative: an aim, an interoperability requirement, and the ratification and reporting machinery. The restrictions themselves are set out in a separate publication, AAMedP-1.6, Edition A, which the STANAG names as the standard participating nations "agree to implement". Anyone managing aircrew medical status against those restrictions needs AAMedP-1.6's own text, not this cover agreement.
What it commits nations to
The stated aim is interoperability: to "standardize the minimum temporary restrictions to be placed upon aircrew following random exposure to certain physiological conditions in order to facilitate the exchange of comparable information between nations and enhance interoperability." This STANAG names the mechanism only; it does not itself list the physiological conditions, the substances, or the restriction periods that AAMedP-1.6 sets out.
Who it binds, and how
STANAG 3474 binds nations, not aircrew or medical officers directly. It is "effective upon receipt and ready to be used by the implementing nations and NATO bodies", and it becomes binding on a given nation through ratification, which "has been ratified by member nations, as reflected in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD)". Partner nations "are invited to adopt this STANAG" rather than being bound to it. Implementation is reported separately: nations "are invited to report on its effective implementation of the STANAG in accordance with AAP-03."
Review and related documents
This STANAG "is to be reviewed at least once every five years", with the result recorded in the NSDD, and a nation or NATO body may propose a change at any time through a standardization proposal to the tasking authority. The document's Other Related Documents entry names STANAG 3527, on aircrew fatigue management, as related reading rather than as something this STANAG requires.
How it's evaluated
STANAG 3474 describes no certification scheme and no audit. What it describes is nations reporting their ratification and implementation status to NATO for the record; nobody is "STANAG 3474 certified", and the document never uses that language. Where an aircrew member's fitness or a unit's aeromedical procedures do get assessed in practice, the assessor and the evidence required are set by the applicable national authority or medical command, not by this STANAG.
Standards it references
STANAG 3474 covers AAMedP-1.6, the Allied Aeromedical Publication that carries the actual restrictions. It names STANAG 3527, on aircrew fatigue management, as related reading. Implementation reporting runs under AAP-03.