NATO Standardization Office
NATO Standardization Agency logo
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| Abbreviation | NSA |
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| Predecessor | Military Standardization Agency (MSA)
Military Agency for Standardization (MAS)
Office for NATO Standardization (ONS)
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| Formation | 2001 |
| Type | Military alliance |
| Purpose | Military standardization |
| Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
| Coordinates | 50°52′34.16″N 4°25′19.24″E / 50.8761556°N 4.4220111°E |
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Official language
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English |
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Director (DNSO)
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Edvardas Mažeikis |
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Parent organization
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NATO |
| Website | nso.nato.int/nso/ |
Coordinates: 50°52′34.16″N 4°25′19.24″E / 50.8761556°N 4.4220111°E
The NATO Standardization Office (NSO) (former NATO Standardization Agency, NSA; French: Bureau OTAN de normalisation) is a NATO agency created in 2001 to handle standardization activities for NATO. The NSA was formed through the merger of the Military Agency for Standardization and the Office for NATO Standardization. The NSA is the executive branch of the NATO Standardization Organization (NSO), which is headed by the Director of the NATO Standardization Agency (DNSA).
The NSA is composed of military and civilian staff that was created to be responsible for standardization for both the Military Committee and the North Atlantic Council It also provides standardization to NATO members military forces, with the goal of interoperability between member nations. It is also the responsibility of the NSA to initiate, administrate over and promulgate a Standardization Agreement (STANAG).
NSA headquarters is located at the main NATO headquarters at Boulevard Léopold III, B-1110 Brussels, which is in Haren, part of the City of Brussels municipality.
On October 24, 1950, during the fourth meeting of the Military Committee, was the first instance of there being a need for a standardization agency. The first NATO standardization agency, the Military Standardization Agency (MSA), was established on January 15, 1951 in London (it was later chartered on January 30). The MSA was created for military-only standardization. A year later, the agency was renamed to the Military Agency for Standardization (MAS). In November 1970, the agency was moved to its current location in Brussels, Belgium, which is also the location of NATO headquarters.
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