ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
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ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes in the ISO 3166-1 standard to represent countries and dependent areas. They are published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as part of its ISO 3166 standard. They are the most widely used of the country codes published by ISO, and are used most prominently for the Internet country code top-level domains (with a few changes).
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[edit] Uses and applications
The codes are used in different environments and are also part of other standards. In some cases they are not perfectly implemented.
[edit] Perfect implementations
The two-letter ISO 3166-1 codes are used in:
- ISO 3901 — International Standard Recording Code
- ISO 4217 — Currency codes
- ISO 6166 — International Securities Identifying Number (ISIN) system
- ISO 7372 — Trade data interchange (Trade data elements directory)
- ISO 9362 — SWIFT codes (Bank Identifier Codes)
- ISO 9375
- ISO 13616 — International Bank Account Numbers
- UN/LOCODE — United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations, implemented by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
- IETF language code
[edit] Imperfect implementations
Starting in 1985, two-letter codes have been used in the domain name system as country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). Nowadays, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority assign the ccTLDs, mostly following the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes, but with a few exceptions (e.g., the United Kingdom uses .uk instead of .gb).
The WIPO standard ST.3, for encoding country which issued a patent or trademark, also uses the alpha-2 codes, but with additional codes for many organizations. For these codes, see the section Codes currently agreed not to use.
NATO country codes are also based on ISO 3166-1 alpha-2.
[edit] Changes
Changes to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 are tracked by ISO 3166-3.
[edit] Current codes
[edit] Officially assigned code elements
Below is a complete list of the current officially assigned ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes, with three columns:
- Alpha-2 - 2-letter country code
- Country name - English short country name officially used by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA)
- Notes - Any unofficial notes
[edit] User-assigned code elements
The following alpha-2 codes can be user-assigned: AA, from QM to QZ, from XA to XZ, and ZZ. These code elements are at the disposal of users who need to add further names of countries, territories or other geographical entities to their in-house application of ISO 3166-1, and the ISO 3166/MA will never use them in the updating process of the standard. For example:
- UN/LOCODE assigns XZ to Installations in International Waters.
- The Directorate General of Customs of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of China administering Taiwan assigns four private-use codes for the statistic needs [1] [2] (external links in Chinese only):
- XA - Ryūkyū Islands, which are never recognized as Japanese territories by the Republic of China
- XB - Nevis
- XC - Tahiti
- ZZ - Other countries
[edit] Reserved code elements
Reserved code elements are codes which, while not ISO 3166-1 codes, are in use for some applications in conjunction with the ISO 3166 codes. The ISO 3166/MA therefore reserves them, so that they are not used for new official ISO 3166 codes, thereby creating conflicts between the standard and those applications. The alpha-2 reserved code elements list is divided into the following four categories.
[edit] Exceptional reservations
Exceptionally reserved alpha-2 code elements are reserved permanently because they are needed for particular purposes. ISO 3166/MA only authorizes their use for the particular purpose for which they were established. The following alpha-2 codes are currently exceptionally reserved:
| Alpha-2 | Country name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AC | Ascension Island | Reserved on request of UPU Used as ccTLD |
| CP | Clipperton Island | Reserved on request of ITU |
| DG | Diego Garcia | Reserved on request of ITU |
| EA | Ceuta and Melilla | Reserved on request of WCO to represent area outside EU customs territory |
| EU | European Union | Originally reserved on request of ISO 4217/MA to provide country code for Euro Later extended for use in the ISO 6166 International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) system Later extended by ISO 3166/MA to any application needing to represent the name European Union Used as ccTLD |
| FX | France, Metropolitan | Merged to form part of France FR, but continues to be reserved on request of France |
| IC | Canary Islands | Reserved on request of WCO to represent area outside EU customs territory |
| TA | Tristan da Cunha | Reserved on request of UPU |
| UK | United Kingdom | Reserved on request of the United Kingdom Used as ccTLD |
The following three codes were also under exceptional reservation, until the update from 2006-03-29 included them in the standard as official codes:
| Alpha-2 | Country name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| GG | Guernsey | Reserved on request of UPU Used as ccTLD |
| IM | Isle of Man | Reserved on request of UPU Used as ccTLD |
| JE | Jersey | Reserved on request of UPU Used as ccTLD |
[edit] Transitional reservations
A transitional reservation refers to a code which was formerly present in ISO 3166, but which since has been deleted. It will be maintained as a transitional reservation for at least five years, for the sake of users who still need to refer to the former entity or whose systems have not yet been updated to refer to the new code. The following alpha-2 codes are currently transitionally reserved:
| Alpha-2 | Country name | Date of reservation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| BU | Burma | December 1989 | Changed its name to Myanmar MM |
| CS | Serbia and Montenegro | September 2006 | Previously named Yugoslavia YU Split up into Montenegro ME and Serbia RS CS previously represented Czechoslovakia |
| NT | Neutral Zone | July 1993 | Split up into two parts, which merged to form parts of Iraq IQ and Saudi Arabia SA respectively |
| SF | Finland | September 1995 | Finland uses the code FI |
| SU | U.S.S.R. | September 1992 | Split up into Armenia AM, Azerbaijan AZ, Belarus BY, Estonia EE, Georgia GE, Kazakhstan KZ, Kyrgyzstan KG, Latvia LV, Lithuania LT, Republic of Moldova MD, Russian Federation RU, Tajikistan TJ, Turkmenistan TM, Ukraine UA, and Uzbekistan UZ, of which BY and UA had already existed Still used as a ccTLD |
| TP | East Timor | May 2002 | Changed its code to TL Still used as a ccTLD |
| YU | Yugoslavia | July 2003 | Changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro CS Still used as a ccTLD |
| ZR | Zaire | July 1997 | Changed its name to Democratic Republic of the Congo CD |
[edit] Indeterminate reservations
The indeterminately reserved alpha-2 code elements are code elements used to identify vehicles under the 1949 and 1968 United Nations Road Traffic Conventions. These codes differ from those used in ISO 3166. The ISO 3166/MA hopes that these codes will eventually be phased out and that ISO 3166-1 codes will be used instead; but in the meantime they are reserved, to avoid conflicts between ISO 3166-1 and the Conventions, and to facilitate any transition from the Convention codes to ISO 3166-1 codes. However, they can be reassigned at any time by the ISO 3166/MA. The following alpha-2 codes are currently indeterminately reserved:
| Alpha-2 | Country |
|---|---|
| DY | Benin 1 |
| EW | Estonia 1 |
| FL | Liechtenstein 2 |
| JA | Jamaica 3 |
| LF | Libya Fezzan 2 |
| PI | Philippines 3 |
| RA | Argentina 3 |
| RB | Bolivia 2,5 |
| RB | Botswana 3,5 |
| RC | China 3 |
| RH | Haiti 1 |
| RI | Indonesia 3 |
| RL | Lebanon 3 |
| RM | Madagascar 3 |
| RN | Niger 4 |
| RP | Philippines 4 |
| WG | Grenada 1 |
| WL | Saint Lucia 1 |
| WV | Saint Vincent 1 |
| YV | Venezuela 1 |
The following codes have been reassigned:
| Alpha-2 | Country |
|---|---|
| LT | Libya Tripoli 2 — Has been reassigned to Lithuania |
| ME | Western Sahara 2 — Has been reassigned to Montenegro |
| RU | Burundi 2 — Has been reassigned to Russia |
Notes:
- Code notified to United Nations Secretary-General under 1949 and/or 1968 Road Traffic Conventions
- Code in use for road transport purposes, but not notified to United Nations Secretary-General under 1949 Road Traffic Convention
- Code under 1949 Road Traffic Convention
- Code under 1968 Road Traffic Convention
- This code is in use to refer to both Bolivia and Botswana
[edit] Codes currently agreed not to use
In addition, the ISO 3166/MA has undertaken, for the time being, not to use the following alpha-2 codes from WIPO Standard ST.3. However, this undertaking is not classified as a transitional, indeterminate or transitional reservation, since the codes do not refer to countries, dependent areas or other geographic regions or localities:
| Alpha-2 | Organization |
|---|---|
| AP | African Regional Intellectual Property Organization |
| BX | Benelux Trademarks and Design Offices |
| EF | Union of Countries under the European Community Patent Convention |
| EM | European Trademark Office |
| EP | European Patent Organization |
| EV | Eurasian Patent Organization |
| GC | Patent Office of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) |
| IB | International Bureau of WIPO |
| OA | African Intellectual Property Organization |
| WO | World Intellectual Property Organization |
In addition, WIPO Standard ST.3 also uses EA to code the Eurasian Patent Organization. However, ISO 3166/MA has stated it cannot guarantee to reserve the code EA from use, since it is already used for customs purposes to represent Ceuta and Melilla. ISO 3166/MA proposed in 1995 that EV be used by WIPO for the purpose of representing the Eurasian Patent Organization; however, this request was not honoured by WIPO.
[edit] Other withdrawn codes
- See also: ISO 3166-3 for a full list of withdrawn codes
These codes have also been withdrawn from ISO 3166-1 since the first edition in 1974:
[edit] See also
- ISO 3166
- ISO 3166-1
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3, 3-letter country codes
- ISO 3166-1 numeric, 3-digit country codes
- ISO 3166-2
- ISO 3166-3
[edit] Sources and external links
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO): ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency
- Official ISO list of countries and the corresponding ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code elements.
- Official ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 decoding table
- CIA World Factbook, Appendix D – Cross-Reference List of Country Data Codes (public domain)
- Country codes in ISO 3166 (include withdrawn codes)
- ISO 3166-1 Change Historyko:ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
