Infoman said:
IN ISO 3166-1, in the 3-digit numeric codes, the 900+-999 range is available for private use. Some of these are already "taken", i.e. in widespread use. I note that banking and financial services (ISO TC68) standardards for financial transactions do use the 3-digit numeric code because it is the most stable.
The numeric codes serve a different purpose to the alphabetic ones - they identify physical territory. So when a country changes name and therefore alpha code, the number stays the same. But when the territory changes (e.g. absorption of East by West Germany) the number changes even if the alpha code stays the same. -- Clive D.W. Feather | Work: <clive@demon.net> | Tel: +44 20 8495 6138 Internet Expert | Home: <clive@davros.org> | Fax: +44 870 051 9937 Demon Internet | WWW: http://www.davros.org | Mobile: +44 7973 377646 Thus plc | |