STANAG 6568
STANAG 6568 shipboard hygiene and preventive medicine agreement
NATO nations and their naval authorities responsible for implementing shipboard hygiene and preventive medicine requirements on naval vessels
STANAG 6568 is the NATO agreement by which participating nations commit to implement AMedP-4.15, the Allied Medical Publication on shipboard hygiene and preventive medicine in NATO naval operations.
- Edition
- 1
- Published
- 2026-07-08
What it is
STANAG 6568 is the NATO standardization agreement covering shipboard hygiene and preventive medicine in NATO naval operations. Like every STANAG, it is not itself a technical specification: it is the agreement by which participating nations commit to implement a publication, and here that publication is AMedP-4.15, Edition A. The risk management principles and procedures for on-board hygiene and preventive medicine live in AMedP-4.15, not in this cover, which records only the commitment to apply them.
What ratifying nations agree to
Participating nations agree to implement AMedP-4.15, Edition A, and to apply the risk management principles and procedures it describes. They also agree to inform other participating navies whenever they are unable to meet the requirements AMedP-4.15 prescribes, so a gap in one nation's implementation is expected to be visible to the others rather than left silent.
How implementation actually works
A nation is treated as having implemented the agreement once it has transmitted the necessary orders or instructions to the authorities and units concerned, and AMedP-4.15 specifically is considered implemented once a nation has updated its own procedures for on-board hygiene and preventive medicine. In practice that means four things: a standardized approach to hygiene and health-safety conditions for on-board personnel; carrying those requirements through every stage of a vessel's life, from the design and commissioning phases, through the operational phase, and during maintenance; telling personnel of other nations embarked on their vessels what level of hygiene and health-risk control is proposed for a mission; and taking appropriate and sufficient measures to control health risks during NATO naval operations. Both ratification responses and implementation details are recorded through NATO's electronic reporting tool and held in the NATO Standardization Documents Database (NSDD).
Review and what it does not cover
The STANAG is reviewed in accordance with AAP-03, the directive that governs how NATO standardization documents are produced and maintained, and the result of that review is recorded in the NSDD. It names no other related document and supersedes nothing. The document itself gives no further technical detail: inspection points, hygiene thresholds and procedures for disinfection or pest control, where they exist, are matters for AMedP-4.15 rather than for this agreement.
Who holds it and where it sits
STANAG 6568 is published by the NATO Standardization Office (NSO), a NATO non-classified document issued free of charge and not sold. It can be obtained from the NSDD or through national standardization authorities, and any reproduction should acknowledge NATO. It is supervised under NATO's medical standardization structure: COMEDS, MCMedSB, MedStd, MHC, MedN P.
How we help
No organisation is certified against STANAG 6568. It binds nations through ratification, and a navy meets it through the day-to-day work of on-board hygiene and preventive medicine, not through a piece of software. Where a defence organisation needs to show it is implementing the agreement, the practical work is procedural: a documented, standardized approach to shipboard hygiene, evidence that it was considered at every stage of a vessel's life cycle rather than bolted on afterwards, and a record of the orders or instructions issued to put it into effect.
ComplyTrain gives that organisation a place to hold those procedures, assign and record training against them, log findings and corrective actions, and keep the evidence trail a reviewing authority or a customer's quality clause would ask for. It does not perform shipboard hygiene inspections, disinfection or pest control itself, and it does not map to AMedP-4.15's own technical content, which is where the substance of this agreement lives.
Which tier of NATO medical standardization applies, and what sits alongside STANAG 6568, is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by us. The standards explorer shows the related publications this agreement points to - talk to us about what your organisation needs to evidence.
Questions
Is STANAG 6568 mandatory?
Only through ratification and national implementation. A STANAG binds a nation once it has ratified it, and it reaches a supplier or unit through that nation's own orders and instructions, not by existing on its own.
What is the difference between STANAG 6568 and AMedP-4.15?
STANAG 6568 is the agreement: participating nations commit through it to implement AMedP-4.15, Edition A. AMedP-4.15 is the publication that actually sets out the risk management principles and procedures for shipboard hygiene and preventive medicine.
Can a company be certified against STANAG 6568?
No. The document describes no certification scheme. What it describes is a national reporting mechanism: nations record their ratification response and implementation details in the NATO Standardization Documents Database.
Does STANAG 6568 replace an earlier edition?
No. The document states plainly that it does not supersede any document, and it names no other related documents.
How is STANAG 6568 reviewed?
In accordance with AAP-03, NATO's directive on producing and maintaining standardization documents, with the result recorded in the NSDD.