ISO 3166-1
ISO 3166-1 is a list of two-letter codes for existing sovereign nations developed by the International Standard Organization (ISO).
Background[edit | edit source]
The purpose of the ISO 3166 standard is to define internationally recognized codes of letters and/or numbers that are used to refer to countries and subdivisions within those countries.[1] The standard defines multiple codes for specific countries, including codes used for historical purposes. For example, SU, once the code for Soviet Union, has been removed to the ISO 3166-1 list and placed on the ISO 3166-3 list with a new four-letter code, SUHH, to indicate that the Soviet Union no longer exists as a country, and was not replaced by a different sovereign entity.<https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:code:3166:SU ISO Online Browsing Platform - SU]</ref> The code ZR, for "Zaire," was removed from the ISO 3166-1 list and placed on the ISO 3166-3 list as ZRCD, indicating that ZR has become CD, the new ISO 3166-1 code for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[2]
ISO 3166-1 and ccTLDs[edit | edit source]
The ISO 3166-1 Alpha-two code was adopted by RFC 1591 as the two-letter ccTLD, delegable to each country's ccTLD registry operator.[3] RFC 1591 enshrines a core premise of IANA functions as they relate to ccTLDs - "The IANA is not in the business of deciding what is and what is not a country."[3] The ISO 3166-1 list is used because it is maintained by a neutral body that undertakes regular review of the list, and has explicit and transparent standards for decision-making regarding changes to the list.[3]
Retirement[edit | edit source]
ICANN has not yet adopted a consistent policy for dealing with delegated ccTLDs whose countries "cease to exist," at least in the view of the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency. A PDP for retirement of ccTLDs is in the final stages of public comment and consideration by the ICANN Board.
Internationalized ccTLDs[edit | edit source]
Similarly, there is currently no policy for dealing with approved and delegated internationalized country code top-level domains when the related country code is removed from or amended on the ISO-3166 standard. The ccNSO is also engaged in a policy development process to fill that gap in policy, as well as to provide additional structure and rules for managing variant strings of the same country name.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ ISO.org - ISO 3166
- ↑ ISO Online Browsing Platform: ZR
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 RFC 1591 at IETF.org