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STANAG 4281
STANAG 4281 marking for shipment and storage
Suppliers, packers and logistics staff who mark materiel for international shipment and storage under a NATO contract, and the buyers who specify how it must be marked.
STANAG 4281 sets NATO's minimum identification marking for materiel shipped and stored internationally. NATO has not released it publicly; this page describes it from the Czech defence standard that implements it, ČOS 814501.
- Edition
- 3
- Published
- 2016-10-04
NATO has not released this STANAG publicly. It is NATO UNCLASSIFIED, and organisations that need it obtain it through their national standardization authority.
What it is
STANAG 4281 is the NATO Standardization Agreement on standard marking for shipment and storage. Edition 3, promulgated on 4 October 2016 under NATO's MC, MCLSB, AST and TP, it covers the publication AAITP-05, edition A. NATO has not released STANAG 4281 or AAITP-05 publicly. This page describes them from a public national implementation, the Czech defence standard ČOS 814501 (3rd edition, amendment 1, effective 15 January 2025), which states that it introduces STANAG 4281 edition 3 (AAITP-05, edition A) into Czech use. A national implementation can add national requirements, so treat what follows as the Czech implementation's content, not NATO's own text.
ČOS 814501 states that the agreement standardises, for use within NATO, the minimum identification marking of materiel for shipment and storage in international deliveries by any mode of transport. It does not apply to purely national-character transport carried out solely by the owning state's own transport.
What the Czech implementation requires
ČOS 814501 sets out general principles before the specific marking rules: marking must be legible, non-fading, durable, and suited to the harshest transport or storage conditions expected, and it must stay readable once a package has been opened for inspection. Marking is done in black, except where black would be illegible or another colour is called for, and red is reserved for dangerous goods. Barcode symbology follows AAITP-09, RFID marking follows STANAG 2233, and unique-identification marking follows STANAG 2494.
On an individual package or container, the Czech text requires visually readable data: the NATO Stock Number (NSN) where one exists, or otherwise the manufacturer's part number; the approved item name from ACodP-03; the quantity and unit of issue; and, where applicable, contract data, a serial number and a batch or lot number. Machine-readable marking, in barcode form, carries at minimum the NSN. Special marking covers a combined NATO packaging-level and date-packed mark (its own example, "NATO 2 11/1987", denotes packaging level 2 and a packing date of November 1987), shelf-life marking using the life-type codes in Annex A, a warning mark for electrostatic-discharge-sensitive devices under AEPP-2, a black-on-yellow label for other sensitive electronic devices, dangerous-goods labelling under the international conventions listed, and a pest-free wood-packaging mark under ISPM 15. One point is explicitly transitional, not interoperability content: the Czech text notes that until the Czech Republic adopts STANAG 4329, the NATO bar code handbook, its bar code symbology references need not be followed there.
How marking covers handling, transport and documentation
Handling and storage marking follows ČSN EN ISO 780 alongside the standard's own instructions: a package over 3 metres long with unevenly distributed weight carries a centre-of-gravity line, and a package at risk of damage from bending or twisting carries marked load-bearing areas and lashing points, with weight, volume and outer dimensions marked in SI units where needed.
Transport marking is built around a shipping label conforming to ČOS 990504: machine-readable marking carries, at minimum, the Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC) as a barcode, and visually readable marking includes the sending state's code under STANAG 1059, a unique national tracking identifier, the packing date, a priority marking, and the points of embarkation and disembarkation where practical. Documentation calls for a packing list sealed in a waterproof cover fixed to each package's exterior, plus shipping documentation attached the same way.
How we help
A supplier bound by STANAG 4281 through a contract holds the obtained text through its national authority. In ComplyTrain you record the requirements that apply to you as your own requirements, give each an owner, and keep the evidence that shows you meet them against each one.
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