Re: [ga] nTLD going gTLD

[bill@mail.nic.nu (J. William Semich)]

Hello;

This excerpt (see below) about ISO-3166 codes on the DIN Website could lead
one to inappropriately believe that only national governments are the
source of the ISO-3166 list, which is the basis for the current ccTLD
two-letter domain names. In fact, the UN is itself the primary source of
the ISO-3166 list, not the DIN, and many of the codes in the UN list are
not affiliated with national governments, nor are they ever likely to be
affiliated with national governments. 

If you read the complete DIN Webpage that was cited at
(http://www.din.de/gremien/nas/nabd/iso3166ma/get_name.html), DIN says:

"How to get a country name into ISO 3166-1

There are two ways new entries can be added to the list of ISO 3166-1: 

A) A new entry is shown in the United Nations lists of country names.

These lists given in the UN Bulletin "Country Names" and in the code list
of the "Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use" are
authoritative inputs for ISO 3166-1. By using UN lists of country names the
ISO 3166/MA stays as politically neutral as possible. 
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

B) Country names can be entered in ISO 3166-1 on request"

It is the unusual circumstance that an ISO-3166 code is made "On Request"
to which item III (below) is referenced. In fact, the UN - not any national
government - primarily determines membership on the ISO-3166 list. And the
UN itself says this list does not designate "national status" or national
recognition by the UN:

"a/ The designations employed and the presentation of country or area names
in this list do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the
part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status
of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or
concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The user of any
particular dataset should consult the dataset documentation to determine
the exact coverage of statistics for the country or area entities in the
dataset. Various datasets may or may not include coverage of outlying and
overseas areas, depending on the type of data and source." (see
http://www.un.org/Depts/unsd/methods/m49alpha.htm and other UN statistical
pages with similar disclaimers)

Bill Semich
.NU Domain

At 12:28 AM 1/5/00 +0100, Elisabeth Porteneuve wrote:
<major snip>

>On the other hand we read "How to get a country name into ISO 3166-1"
>    http://www.din.de/gremien/nas/nabd/iso3166ma/get_name.html: 
>
>    III. A request for the inclusion of a country name (or the name of 
>         a dependent area) in ISO 3166-1 must originate from the national 
>         government of the country or from the national standards body 
>         of that country. The ISO 3166/MA rejects any request which is 
>         not accompanied by a written statement from the national goverment 
>         explicitly agreeing to and supporting the request. 
>
>The problem arises when the ISO3166 code, which request originates from
>the national government (and as such is a national patrimony), is not
>"in service of the Country and people of such country to which it belongs".
>
>Elisabeth Porteneuve


Bill Semich
President and Founder
.NU Domain Ltd
http://whats.nu
bill@mail.nic.nu