IANA Naming Function terminology
Term/Practice | Definition/description | Used in: | Comment |
Not assigned | .UM (2007) | Needs to be defined | |
Retired; Term retired is listed as such in IANA | .AN (2010) | Process concluded in 2015 | |
Retired; not included in IANA Root Zone Database, no record in https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db | .YU (2007) .TP (2002) | .YU Process concluded in 2009, .TP process concluded in 2015 | |
unallocated (ccTLDs) | .UM case report (2007) | ||
Disposition of Top Level Domain | .AN case report (2010) | ||
Removal of ccTLDs | .UM case | ||
Retirement of (cc)TLD | Not defined in FoI nor by DRD WG in its final report | ||
Revocation | The process by which the IANA Operator rescinds responsibility for management of a ccTLD from an incumbent manager. | Section 3.5 of RFC1591 | FOI note: Section 3.5 of RFC1591 explicitly contemplates revocation appropriate In cases of persistent problems with the proper operation of a domain |
Specific terminology in context of the ISO 3166 standard
Term/Practice | Definition/description | Used in: | Comment |
Assigned (or allocated) code elements | (The result of applying the principle of) visual association between the country names (in English or Frensch, or sometimes in another language) and their corresponding code elements. | Section 5.1 of the Standard | |
Unassigned | NOT DEFINED IN THE STANDARD | ||
codes that have not been assigned to country names. | ISO Online Browsing Platform | Defined in: https://www.iso.org/glossary- for-iso-3166.html
As this is not defined in the Standard it is only included for informational purposes and use in policy rules should be avoided. | |
Deletions from the list of country names | Deletions from the list of country names shall be made on the basis of information from the United Nations Headquarters, or upon the request of a member of ISO 3166/MA. The ISO 3166/MA shall decide upon deletion, on the basis of the information given
ISO3166-3 provides the lsit of country names deleted in this part of ISO 3166 since its first edition in 1974 | Section 7.3 | |
Reservation of Code elements | Some code elements are reserved - For a limited period when their reservation is the result of the deletion or alteration of a country name - For an indeterminate period when the reservation is the result of the application of international law or of exceptional requests | Section 7.5 and 7.5.1 | |
| Reallocation period | Code elements that the ISO3166/MA has altered or deleted should not be reallocated during a period of at least fifty years after the change. The exact period is determined in each case on the basis of the extent to which the former code element was used. | Section 7.5.2 | |
| Transitionally reserved | NOT DEFINED IN THE STANDARD | ||
| Codes that are reserved during a transitional period while new code elements that may replace them are taken into use. This results from changes in the standard. | ISO 3166 Online Browsing Platform glossary. Defined in: https://www.iso.or g/glossary-for-iso- 3166.html | This description is not included in the Standard. It is only included in this document for informational purposes and use in policy rules should be avoided. | |
| Period of non- use | Certain code elements existing at the time of the first publication of the ISO 3166 country codes and differing form those in this part (= ISO 3166-1) should not be used for an indeterminate period to represent other country names.
These code elements should be included in the list of reserved code elements and should not be reallocated during a period of at least fifty years after the date the countries or organizations concerned have discontinued their use. | ISO Standard 7.5.3 | |
| Exceptionally reserved | Code elements may be reserved, in exceptional cases, for country names which the ISO 3166/MA has decided not to include in this part of ISO3166, but for which an interchange requirement exists. Before such code elements are reserved, advice from the relevant authority must be sought. | ISO 3166 Standard section 7.5.4 | |
| Codes that have been reserved for a particular use at special request of a national ISO member body, governments or international organizations. | ISO 3166 Online Browsing Platform glossary Defined in: https://www.iso.or g/glossary-for-iso- 3166.html | This description is not included in the Standard. It is only included in this document for informational purposes and use in policy rules should be avoided.
For example, the code UK has been reserved at the request of the United Kingdom so that it cannot be used for any other country. | |
| Reallocation | Before reallocating a former code element or a formerly reserved code element, The ISO3166/MA shall consult, as appropriate, the authority or agency on whose behalf the code element was reserved, and consideration shall be given to difficulties which might arise for the reallocation. | ISO3166 standards section 7.5.5 | |
| Indeterminately reserved | NOT DEFINED IN THE STANDARD | ||
| a code that has been indeterminately reserved for use in a certain way. Usually this is justified by their presence in other coding systems. | ISO 3166 Online Browsing Platform glossary. Defined in: https://www.iso.or g/glossary-for-iso- 3166.html | This description is not included in the Standard. It is only included in this document for informational purposes and use in policies should be avoided. For example, several codes have been reserved by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) because they have been used in its Standard ST.3 | |
| Country name | Name of Country, dependency, or other area of particular interest | ISO 3166- part 1 section 3.4 | |
| Country code | Listing of country names with their representations by code elements | ISO 3166- part 1 section 3.3 | |
| Code element | The result of applying a code to an element of a coded set | ISO 3166- part 1 section 3.2 | |
| Code | Set of data | ISO 3166- part 1 section 3.1 | |
| List of Country names | Part of the Clause 9 list | Defined in ISO 3166- part 1 section 6, 6.1. In clause 6 of part 1 the content of the list is enumerated in Clause 9. | |
| Formerly used codes | NOT DEFINED IN THE STANDARD | ||
| Codes that used to be part of the standard but that are no longer in use. See alpha-4 codes. | ISO 3166 Online Browsing Platform | As this is not described in the Standard it is only included for informational purposes and use in policy rules should be avoided. |
In addition to the list of Country Codes (as defined above), the Online Browsing Platform displays:
- List of formerly used codes
- List of Indeterminately reserved codes
- List of Transitionally reserved codes
- List of exceptionally reserved codes
- Un-assigned codes
