National Codification Bureau

The National Codification Bureaus or NATO Codification Bureaux (NCB) are a NATO organization that oversees the management of the National Codification System (NCS).

Countries that participate in the National Codification System (NCS) follow common standards and techniques to assign National Stock Numbers (NSNs) to items of supply in their defense inventory. The National Codification Bureau (NCB) within each country centrally assigns their national NSNs. The assignment of an NSN denotes a distinctive item of supply; to eliminate confusion, the number will never be re-used.

National Stock Number

The National Stock Number (NSN) system was implemented on September 30, 1974. It was managed by the Defense Integrated Data System in 1975.

All NSNs are uniform in composition, length, and structure. Each is represented by a 13-character code, which can be divided into two parts:

NATO Supply Classification Group

The first four characters are the NATO Supply Classification Group (NSCG) code. This relates the item to the NATO Supply Group (characters 1 & 2) and NATO Supply Class (characters 3 & 4) of similar items that it belongs to. Examples:

• Group 10: Weapons
  • 1005: Weapons (from 1 mm through 30 mm).
  • 1010: Weapons (from 31 mm to 75 mm).
  • 1015: Weapons (from 76 mm to 125 mm).
  • 1040: Chemical Weapons and Equipment.
• Group 11: Nuclear Ordnance
• Group 12: Fire Control Equipment
• Group 13: Ammunition and Explosives
  • 1305: Ammunition, weapons (1mm-30mm)
  • 1310: Ammunition, weapons (31-75mm)
  • 1315: Ammunition, weapons (76mm-125mm)
• Group 30: Mechanical Power Transmission Equipment
• Group 58: Communication, Detection, and Coherent Radiation Equipment
• Group 65: Medical, Dental, and Veterinary Equipment and Supplies.
  • 6530: Hospital Furniture, Equipment, Utensils, and Supplies.

National Item Identification Number

The next 9 characters make up the National Item Identification Number / NATO Item Identification Number (NIIN).

The first two characters indicate the assigning country's NCB code - also informally called a "Country Code" or "Nation Code". Each country has its own two-character NCB code, which were granted in the order the NCB system was adopted by that country. The United Kingdom (99), Australia (66) and New Zealand (98) are the exceptions; as a courtesy they were granted their status before the rest of NATO reviewed and accepted the NCB.

The United States uses "00" through "10" because they invented the system and were using it before the rest of NATO. NCB code "00" generally indicates an item in US inventory before 1974 (when the NSN was adopted by the US) and "01" indicates an item placed in US inventory after 1974. Canada's NCB "20" and "21" have a similar purpose.

The final seven characters are random. They indicate the code for the unique item codified by that country. It will never be reused or changed. The NIIN has lately become alphanumeric (digits and uppercase letters) due to the vast array of items in the NSN Catalog, recently adopting the use of the uppercase letter C in place of "12" in 2000.

List of Currently-Assigned NCB Codes

Country	NCB Code(s)
USA	00 through 10
NATO-standard items	11
West Germany / Germany	12
Belgium	13
France	14
Italy	15
Czech Republic	16
Netherlands	17
South Africa	18
Brazil	19
Canada	20 and 21
Denmark	22
Greece	23
Iceland	24
Norway	25
Portugal	26
Turkey	27
Luxembourg	28
Argentina	29
Japan	30
Israel	31
Singapore	32
Spain	33
Malaysia	34
Thailand	35
Egypt	36
Republic of Korea	37
Estonia	38
Romania	39
Slovakia	40
Austria	41
Slovenia	42
Poland	43
United Nations-standard items	44
Indonesia	45
Philippines	46
Lithuania	47
Fiji	48
Tonga	49
Bulgaria	50
Hungary	51
Chile	52
Croatia	53
Republic of Macedonia	54
Latvia	55
Oman	56
Russian Federation	57
Finland	58
Albania	59
Kuwait	60
Ukraine	61
Belarus	62
Morocco	63
Sweden	64
Papua, New Guinea	65
Australia	66
Afghanistan	67
Georgia	68
?	69
Saudi Arabia	70
United Arab Emirates	71
India	72
Serbia	73
Pakistan	74
Bosnia-Herzegovina	75
Brunei	76
Montenegro	77
Jordan	78
Peru	79
New Zealand	98
United Kingdom	99

Federal Stock Number

The Federal Stock Number (FSN) was the codification system used by the US Government from 1957 to 1974. It was 11 digits long and was the same number as the NSN, minus the two-digit NCB code. The digits "00" were later added in the place of the NCB digits to virtually all FSN numbers to create compliant American NSN numbers.

The FSN was officially replaced by the National Stock Number beginning on September 30, 1974 and the National Stock Number became the NATO Stock Number on adoption of the system by NATO.