AIM The aim of this NATO standardization recommendation (STANREC) is to list recommended practices regarding: the NATO Preferred Methods for Unique Identification (UID) of items. UID is a common standard and a set of business rules for identifying serially managed equipment and items of supply. UID standardizes the method for assigning serialized reference numbers@ called Unique Item Identifiers (UII) for these discrete items. UII assignment ensures global uniqueness within ISO/IEC 15459 applications ensures quality data capture through the use of a machine-readable@ two-dimensional ECC200 data matrix symbol with the encoded UII information@ and establishes a common data key (i.e.@ the UII) for each information system to collect@ manage@ and share information related to that serialized item. As a standards-based identification system@ UID is designed to support operational and SLCM decisions by enabling NATO@ NATO nations@ PfP nations@ and industry to improve data sharing@ data retrieval and data quality related to serialized items. AUIDP-1 is a general approach for implementing UID concepts@ specifically: What items are to be uniquely identified; how to mark items; how to manage the data related to marked items; and how to exploit the assured data delivered by the capability of UID.