Talk:ISO 3166-1 alpha-3

Easier Country Links
Can we use the codes to link to the country home page?

For example, make the following two links equivalent in wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-3/IND 

Please let me know, otherwise I'll just go ahead and do it. This will make my application (linking to wikipedia) much more reliable.

Netdawg 23:33, 6 March 2007 (UTC) netdawg

Historical codes
what about former codes? where is DDR (East Germany) ? Tobias Conradi (Talk) 00:22, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
 * A good question. I'll start a section with some of them.  (SEWilco 03:58, 29 August 2006 (UTC))

Serbia & Montenegro?
Where are the codes for the two new countries, Serbia and Montenegro?? ka la  ha  10:25, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Nowhere, as the ISO has not yet made them public. &mdash; Nightst a  llion  (?) 22:01, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
 * That's sounds strange, but I'm sure that's it's correct. ka  la  ha  15:58, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Why does it sound strange? ISO defines the codes, and as ISO has not yet made a decision public regarding Serbia and Montenegro, there's no code as of today. &mdash; Nightst a  llion  (?) 09:45, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Is there an external reference for this? I would expect ISO to have published this somewhere, but I'm unable to find anything but the two-letter codes on their official home page --80.199.77.38 06:27, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
 * What do you mean? They haven't published the codes yet, so what do you expect to find? There's an entry in the FAQ, though. http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/10faq/frequently-asked-questions.html#QS01 &mdash; Nightst a  llion  (?) 19:53, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

They are now - SRB and MNE =) doktorb wordsdeeds 09:06, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Indeed. Incidentally, ISO 4217 still hasn't been updated officially to change CSD to RSD... ::sighs:: &mdash; Nightst a  llion  (?) 16:39, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Peru?
Why isn't Peru here? That's not a new country. 193.157.252.133 (talk) 00:52, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

The Falkland Islands
Surely the Falklands should only be referred to by their English name on this page? After all, remember that the British after the Falklands War of 1982 refused to let Argentina use the term Malvinas in the intrument of surrender. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.20.100.169 (talk) 00:30, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

KOS/KVA
Or whatever Kosovo will be eventually...Any idea on the timescale for giving Kosovo a code...? 80.193.130.5 (talk) 10:27, 28 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Anyone? 80.193.130.5 (talk) 08:48, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Citing from ISO 3166-1 and International recognition of Kosovo:


 * According to rules of procedure followed by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency based in Geneva, a new ISO 3166-1 code for Kosovo will only be issued once it appears in the United Nations Terminology Bulletin Country Names or in the UN Statistics Division's list of Country and Region Codes for Statistical Use. To appear in the terminology bulletin, it must either (a) be admitted into the United Nations, (b) join a UN Specialised Agency or (c) become a state party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice.  Criteria (b) was met when Kosovo joined the International Monetary Fund and World Bank; a terminology bulletin has yet to be circulated.

So theoretically, Kosovo is already eligible to be assigned a code. Realistically, given the disputed status of Kosovo, and that any ISO updating is dependent on the UN, it's unknown if or when they will be given a code. If they were to be given a code without being a UN member, the controversial issue would be the name given to Kosovo. Would it be just "Kosovo", or something in the form of "Taiwan, Province of China", implying non-sovereignty. My "speculative" answer would be, do not expect a code until there is some clarity internationally. Chanheigeorge (talk) 15:01, 22 September 2009 (UTC)


 * According to Kosovan passport, Kosovo's current passports use the unofficial code "RKS". Jpatokal (talk) 12:32, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

I'm happy that I can use: for my list, which is the reference to the IOC and FIFA code in the templates, was not sure about  is there any problem using that today? --Never stop exploring (talk) 09:59, 27 April 2015 (UTC)

Discrepancy
The following codes appear on this page but not on the official ISO alpha-3 list. I'm not sure of the cause for the discrepancy. --Bequw (talk) 20:39, 16 February 2010 (UTC)
 * ATA, ATF, BVT, CCK, CXR, HMD, IOT, SGS, TWN, UMI
 * That's not the official list, the ISO document is. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 21:45, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

Taiwan KNH


Taiwan issues entry permits to mainland Chinese in order to visit Kinmen, Matsu, and Penghu with the "nationality" code listed as KNH (see image at right; it's from Taiwan's Immigration Guide for Civil Carriers). That's actually the the International Air Transport Association airport code for Kinmen Airport. Is this practice officially approved in any specification? Should it be mentioned in this article? Thanks, Eric Baer (talk) 12:08, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

Scotland and Wales
What about codes for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? There are codes for Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man. ChilternGiant (talk) 14:16, 19 April 2012 (UTC)


 * These are all part of the United Kingdom, while Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are not. As the United Kingdom is a country, it makes sense to give it a code, and to not also give all parts of it (even though they're also called "countries") a code. --Lonaowna (talk) 21:39, 16 August 2014 (UTC)

RSR Rhodesia vs Southern Rhodesia
In section "Indeterminate reservations" by the code RSR is link Southern Rhodesia. RSR code are taken from Geneva Convention on Road Traffic. The name Sothern Rhodesia was used 1901-1965 and 1979-1980. I think, the better link for code RSR is Southern Rhodesia.

Secon Rhodesian code (RHO) was designed in ISO 3166:1974 while the country name was Rhodesia. In 1979 the name was changed to "Southern Rhodesia" (i think without changing ISO code) and in 1980 to Zimbawe (with new ISO code). So link Southern Rhodesia is corresponding to the code. Malarz pl (talk) 07:08, 17 June 2012 (UTC)

World Service Authority
The World Service Authority World Passport contains "WSA" as the authority code. It has been filed with the International Civil Aviation Organization, but it is unclear if the code is officially registered.

Overlooked? Small, but fundamental
Does it say anywhere in the article which characters can be used in the "3-letter codes"? Are we just supposed to assume that it will be only the ASCII letters A through Z? It always bothers me the simple bits that aren't explained. :-) Shenme (talk) 06:47, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

German code
German passports have the code D<< and not DEU, this is somewhat misleading here... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.36.187.202 (talk) 07:36, 21 July 2017 (UTC)

West Germany?
What was the three letter code for West Germany? FRG or GER? – Illegitimate Barrister (talk • contribs), 00:40, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
 * DEU. The reunified Germany kept that code. Anomie⚔ 17:45, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Or, more correctly, the country that we today call "Germany" is the same country that was formerly known as "West Germany", just with some extra territory. The unification wasn't creating one new country out of two, instead East Germany dissolved and the resulting states became part of the existing adjacent country (along with a bunch of treaties beforehand). See German reunification for more. Anomie⚔ 19:19, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

KNA
Why doesn't St. Kitts and Nevis use SKN, KNE, KNV? what does the "A" stands for? Corypight (talk) 08:40, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Looks like Saint Kitts and Nevis retained the KNA code when Anguilla left in the 1980s. Per https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html: ~1985: Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla (codes KN, KNA, 658) split into Anguilla and "Saint Kitts and Nevis".  Based on that, the 'A' stood for Anguilla. DRMcCreedy (talk) 18:08, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
 * The first of those mentioned other letter combinations, SKN is the IOC country code for Saint Kitts and Nevis. August-54 (talk) 18:21, 24 January 2021 (UTC)