Five MDD standards have been developed as part of the IMAS package, and were formally approved by the UN in 2002. These are:

  • IMAS 09.40 - Guide for the use of MDDs
  • IMAS 09.41 - Operational procedures for MDD
  • IMAS 09.42 - Operational accreditation of mine dogs
  • IMAS 09.43 - Remote Explosive Scent Tracing (REST)
  • IMAS 09.44 - Guide to medical and general health care of dogs 

Revision of standards is time consuming and costly and should be avoided if there is no real need or if there are few changes to the original conditions. However, the results from field-testing of the standards and from the studies reviewed by the GICHD imply that a comprehensive revision will be required.

The completion of research components will likely result in the production of a series of TNMAs (Technical Notes in Mine Action). One TNMA How do dogs detect landmines has so far been developed. It has been incorporated into the MDD book (see MDD book index, chapter 5, part 1).

For more information about the IMAS series of standards, visit our Standards / Quality Management pages.