North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) - Status of Forces Agreement

The NATO Status of Forces Agreement, usually shortened to NATO SOFA, is a 1951 agreement among the parties to the North Atlantic Treaty. It sets out the status of one member state's forces while they are present in the territory of another member state. NATO publishes the text and related documents among its official texts.

In practical terms, the agreement addresses the treatment and legal status of foreign forces. Its subject matter includes jurisdiction, claims, customs, and entry and departure. It is an agreement between governments, and it forms part of the legal framework that allied forces rely on when they operate, train or are stationed outside their home country.

What the 1951 agreement addresses

The NATO SOFA deals with the questions that arise when armed forces from one allied country are present on the soil of another. The subjects it covers are:

• Jurisdiction: which state's legal authority applies to visiting forces.
• Claims: how claims arising from the presence of foreign forces are handled.
• Customs: how goods and equipment moving with forces are treated at the border.
• Entry and departure: how forces and their members enter and leave the host state.

These are the topics NATO itself identifies when it describes the agreement. The agreement applies among states that are parties to the North Atlantic Treaty.

The Partnership for Peace version of the agreement

NATO also maintains a separate agreement on the status of forces for the Partnership for Peace. NATO describes it on its Partnership for Peace Status of Forces Agreement page. The 1995 agreement text and a 1997 further additional protocol are both published in NATO's official texts.

When a document refers to a status of forces agreement, check which instrument it names. The NATO SOFA of 1951 and the Partnership for Peace agreement are separate texts.

Where to find authoritative texts and terminology

NATO is the primary source for the agreement and its companion documents. Useful starting points include:

• The NATO official texts record for the agreement.
• The archived 1995 basic text for the Partnership for Peace agreement.
• The NATOTerm terminology database, for the standard meaning of NATO terms.
• The Allied Joint Publication on host nation support, AJP 4.5(A) HN Support, published in May 2005.

Reading the agreement itself is the most reliable way to understand how a clause in a tender document relates to it.

What the NATO SOFA means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

The NATO SOFA is an agreement among states, not a bidding rule. If a solicitation on CanadaBuys or another Canadian tendering service cites it, treat the citation as a pointer to the legal status of allied forces, covering jurisdiction, claims, customs, and entry and departure.

• Read the clause in context and note exactly which agreement it names.
• Obtain the agreement text from NATO rather than relying on a summary.
• Put questions about how the reference applies to your bid to the contracting authority in writing, within the question period set out in the solicitation.
• Make sure your bid team uses the same terminology as the solicitation when it responds.

A reference to the agreement does not by itself add a requirement for suppliers. Obligations come from the wording of the solicitation and the resulting contract.