ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are
three-letter
country codes defined in
ISO 3166-1, part of the
ISO 3166 standard
published by the
International
Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent
countries,
dependent
territories, and special areas of geographical interest. They
allow a better visual association between the codes and the country
names than the two-letter
alpha-2
codes (the third set of codes are
numeric and hence offers no visual
association). They were first included as part of the ISO 3166
standard in its first edition in 1974.
Uses and applications
The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are used most prominently in
ISO/
IEC
7501-1 for
machine-readable
passports, with a number of additional codes for special
passports, which are currently
reserved and not used at the
present stage in ISO 3166-1.
The
United Nations uses a combination
of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and alpha-3 codes, along with codes that
pre-date the creation of ISO 3166, for
international
vehicle registration codes, the codes on the oval stickers used
to identify foreign road vehicles; some of these codes are
currently
indeterminately
reserved in ISO 3166-1.
Current codes
Officially assigned code elements
The following is a complete list of the current officially assigned
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes, using the English short country names
officially used by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO
3166/MA):
User-assigned code elements
User-assigned code elements are codes 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 these codes in the updating
process of the standard. The following alpha-3 codes can be
user-assigned:
AAA to
AAZ,
QMA to
QZZ,
XAA to
XZZ, and
ZZA to
ZZZ.
Reserved code elements
Reserved code elements are codes which have become obsolete, or are
required in order to enable a particular user application of the
standard but do not qualify for inclusion in ISO 3166-1. To avoid
transitional application problems and to aid users who require
specific additional code elements for the functioning of their
coding systems, the ISO 3166/MA, when justified, reserves these
codes which it undertakes not to use for other than specified
purposes during a limited or indeterminate period of time. The
reserved alpha-3 codes can be divided into the following four
categories:
exceptional
reservations,
transitional reservations,
indeterminate
reservations, and
codes currently agreed not to
use.
Exceptional reservations
Exceptionally reserved code elements are codes reserved at the
request of national ISO member bodies, governments and
international organizations, which are required in order to support
a particular application, as specified by the requesting body and
limited to such use; any further use of such code elements is
subject to approval by the ISO 3166/MA. The following alpha-3 codes
are currently exceptionally reserved:
The following alpha-3 codes were previously exceptionally reserved,
but are now officially assigned:
- GGY Guernsey
— Reserved on request of UPU
; Officially assigned since 2006
- IMN Isle of Man
— Reserved on request of UPU; Officially assigned since 2006
- JEY Jersey
— Reserved on request of UPU; Officially assigned since 2006
Transitional reservations
Transitional reserved code elements are codes reserved after their
deletion from ISO 3166-1. These codes may be used only during a
transitional period of at least five years while new code elements
that may have replaced them are taken into use. These codes may be
reassigned by the ISO 3166/MA after the expiration of the
transitional period. The following alpha-3 codes are currently
transitionally reserved:
Indeterminate reservations
Indeterminately reserved code elements are
codes used to
designate road vehicles under the 1949 and
1968 United Nations
Conventions on Road Traffic but differing from those contained
in ISO 3166-1. These code elements are expected eventually to be
either eliminated or replaced by code elements within ISO 3166-1.
In the meantime, the ISO 3166/MA has reserved such code elements
for an indeterminate period. Any use beyond the application of the
two Conventions is discouraged and will not be approved by the ISO
3166/MA. Moreover, these codes may be reassigned by the ISO 3166/MA
at any time. The following alpha-3 codes are currently
indeterminately reserved:
The following alpha-3 code was previously indeterminately reserved,
but has been reassigned to another country as its official code:
Codes currently agreed not to use
In addition, the ISO 3166/MA will not use the following alpha-3
codes at the present stage, as they are used for special
machine-readable passports in
ISO/
IEC
7501-1:
Deleted codes
Besides
the codes currently transitionally reserved and two
other codes currently exceptionally reserved
(FXX for France,
Metropolitan and SUN for USSR
), the
following alpha-3 codes have also been deleted from ISO
3166-1:
See also
References
Sources and external links
— Reserved on request of UPU
— Reserved on request of ITU
— Reserved on request of ITU
; Previously officially assigned
— Reserved on request of UPU
— From 1989-12
— From 1993-06
— From 2002-02; Code changed to
ROU
— From 2002-05
— From 1997-07
[Part of Tanzania, United Republic
of]
[now Zimbabwe]
residents to whom travel documents were issued
by the United
Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK)
— Code changed to PHL
(IOC)
(FIFA)
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