Country codes of Serbia

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Country codes for Serbia are short alphanumeric identification codes for country with primary use in data processing and communications.

Contents

As Serbia and Montenegro dissolved in 2006, Serbia consequently restored its independence and dealt with the issue of assignment of country codes.

List of codes

TypeRegistryCode
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code ISO RS
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code ISO SRB
ISO 4217 currency code ISO RSD
International licence plate code UNECE SRB
Country calling code ITU +381
Country TLD code ICANN .rs

Two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2

Task of assigning two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 for Serbia, which could seem trivial, was made hugely complex by the number of countries having names which begin with the letter S. All combinations of S as a first letter and any other letter in word Serbia, or even Srbija (in Serbian), were already taken by other states. As SB is a historic code for Serbia, it was hinted that the country could pursue talks with Solomon Islands, the current owner of that code. However, it is worth noting that since ISO 3166-1 requires that a code is unused for five years before it can be re-used, this may not be possible even with the consent of the ISO and the previous holder, as users of the standard may object. Some proposed solutions could have been "generic" SS or SX (although SS was likely to be avoided for its association with the Nazi Schutzstaffel ), SS being later assigned to South Sudan and SX to Sint Maarten.

As this code is also to be used as Internet top-level domain for the country, there had been rumours of approaching either International Organization for Standardization, United Nations or one of the countries having names which begin with the letter S in order to switch the codes. Negotiating the purchase or usage of the .sj Internet domain reserved for Svalbard and Jan Mayen was not a plausible option as Norway, which administers this (through UNINETT Norid), has a policy of not commercializing or disposing of this domain. [1]

The Government of Serbia made an official request that the alpha-2 code for Serbia should be RS (Republic of Serbia), but there was an ISO recommendation against any reference to the form of government in these codes. There are at least four examples where the rule against inclusion of government form was broken (Democratic Republic of the Congo has the code CD, Federated States of Micronesia has the code FM, Switzerland has the code CH that stems from country's official Latin name Confoederatio Helvetica, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has the code KP, despite the fact that the code KO is available). RS is also frequently used as an acronym for Republika Srpska, an entity of nearby Bosnia and Herzegovina; this is not a conflict but adds the potential for confusion. RS could also be an abbreviation for the historical name of today's Serbia, Raška or Rascia which would be in full compliance with this rule. The proposal, after an initial rejection by ISO, was accepted in September 2006. [2]

Three-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-3

Task of assigning alpha-3 code was a somewhat less complex than that of alpha-2 code, the main issue being the choice between the English mnemonic SER or the Serbian SRB.[ citation needed ] A possible compromise between the two, SBA, was also mentioned.[ citation needed ]

The Institute for Standardization of Serbia, in line with the proposed alpha-2 code (SP), decided that SPA should be the alpha-3 code for Serbia. [3] [4] [5] The logic of this proposal was unclear, since this decision had not been elaborated by the Institute resulting in a public outcry and was amended by the Government of Serbia, which proposed SRB that is immediately recognizable and relatable to country itself by speakers of most European languages, including English. [2] This was accepted by the ISO in September 2006.

ISO 4217

ISO 4217 code is used for national currency, in this case the Serbian dinar. This three-letter code is composed of, by rule, first two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and a third letter is initial of the currency itself: RSD. Exceptions from the rule are made only in the third letter, if that suits the country better, that is however not the Serbia's case.

International licence plate code

Countries generally take on the shortest licence plate code possible. Abbreviation S was taken by Sweden the same year[ which? ], making it unavailable for Serbia, while the "attractive" SR and SB were available, as Suriname uses SME, while the Solomon Islands are identified by SLB. The Kingdom of Serbia used SB from 1911 to 1919, when it was replaced by SHS, followed by Y, YU and SCG.

Government of Serbia, however, have decided that the international license plate code for Serbia should (and could only) be its ISO-3166-1 alpha-3 code, SRB.

Country calling code

Serbia kept the telephone country calling code previously assigned to Serbia and Montenegro, +381. Serbia and Montenegro received the code of +381 following the breakup of the Yugoslavia in 1992 (which had +38 as country code). Montenegro switched to +382 after its independence in 2006, while previous Yugoslav country code +38 was divided as follows: +380 for Ukraine, +383 for Kosovo, +385 for Croatia, +386 for Slovenia, +387 for Bosnia and Herzegovina and +389 for North Macedonia. [6]

Country TLD code

Serbia and Montenegro used the .yu country code top-level domain when still called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In September 2006 IANA assigned .rs as the top-level domain for Serbia.

Since 2011, there has been active .срб (abbreviation of Serbian : Србија; romanized as .srb), the internationalised (Cyrillic) country code TLD for Serbia.

See also

Sources

  1. "The .bv and .sj top level domains". UNINETT Norid. 3 August 2010. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Vlada predlaže skraćenice RS i SRB" [Government proposes abbreviations RS and SRB]. B92 (in Serbian). 27 July 2006. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  3. "Institute for Standardization of Serbia". www.iss.rs. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  4. "ISS". ISO. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  5. "Kodovi Srbije SP i SPA?" [Serbian codes SP and SPA?]. B92 (in Serbian). 22 July 2006. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  6. "Numbering plan for telecommunication networks" (PDF). RATEL. 2006-06-16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2009-03-21.

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ISO 3166-3 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and defines codes for country names which have been deleted from ISO 3166-1 since its first publication in 1974. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 3: Code for formerly used names of countries. It was first published in 1999.

ISO 3166-1 is a standard defining codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. It is the first part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization.

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. They were first included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its first edition in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ISO 3166-1 alpha-2</span> Two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-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 are the most widely used of the country codes published by ISO, and are used most prominently for the Internet's country code top-level domains. They are also used as country identifiers extending the postal code when appropriate within the international postal system for paper mail, and have replaced the previous one consisting one-letter codes. They were first included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its first edition in 1974.

ISO 3166-2:CS was the entry for Serbia and Montenegro in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.

ISO 3166-1 numeric codes are three-digit 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 are similar to the three-digit country codes developed and maintained by the United Nations Statistics Division, from which they originate in its UN M.49 standard. They were first included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its second edition in 1981, but they were released by the United Nations Statistics Division since as early as 1970.

A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs.

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.sj is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) reserved for the designation Svalbard and Jan Mayen. The domain name registry is Norid, but .sj is not open for registration. The issuing of the domain was based on the ISO 3166 designation of Svalbard and Jan Mayen, which consists of two separately administrated integrated territories of Norway: the Arctic archipelago Svalbard and the nearly uninhabited volcanic island Jan Mayen. .sj was designated on 21 August 1997, at the same time as Bouvet Island was allocated .bv. Both were placed under the .no registry Norid, which is also the sponsor. Norwegian policy states that .no is sufficient for those institutions connected to both Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and therefore the domain is not open to registration. It is Norwegian policy not to commercialize domain resources, so there are no plans to sell .sj. Should the domain later come into use, it will be under regulation of the Norwegian Communications Authority and follow the same policy as .no. There are two second-level domains reserved for the two areas: svalbard.no and jan-mayen.no, but other web addresses are also used.

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.yu was the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) that was assigned to SFR Yugoslavia in 1989 and was mainly used by Serbia and Montenegro and its two successor states. After Montenegro and Serbia acquired separate .me and .rs domains in 2007, a transition period started, and the .yu domain finally expired in 2010.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">.rs</span> Internet country code top-level domain for Serbia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">ISO 3166-2:ME</span> Entry for Montenegro in ISO 3166-2

ISO 3166-2:ME is the entry for Montenegro in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.

ISO 3166-2:RS is the entry for Serbia in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.срб</span> Internet internationalized country code top-level domain for Serbia

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ISO 3166-2:SX is the entry for Sint Maarten in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.