John Cowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > As I understand it, this request is more of a command. The only > fully stable codes in 3166 are the numeric ones.
ISO 3166/MA makes a big fuss on its newly revamped web site about the widespread use (and usability) of 3166. Users who read this text will expect the standard, especially the alpha-2 codes, to be stable. Alain LaBonté <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > For example, if Québec (a territory currently 3 times as big as France) > eventually became a country it would have its code... and the current > numeric code for Canada would designate a different territory... Would that > mean even a different numeric code for the new country designated as Canada? Maybe. New codes were assigned to Yugoslavia when it lost territory, and Germany and Yemen when they experienced unification (not with each other, of course :-). In fact, according to the widely distributed "RIPE Network Coordination Centre" text file, there have been numeric code changes even when no significant code was apparent in the country's status (e.g. Panama and Netherlands Antilles). And that's the problem. It is clear that a country coding system cannot be perfectly stable, because countries are not perfectly stable. In each of the following cases, you may expect at least some aspect of some coding system to be affected: 1. West Germany and East Germany unite to become Germany. 2. Czechoslovakia splits into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 3. Zaire renames itself to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 4. Hong Kong becomes a Special Administrative Region of China. The problem with the Romania alpha-3 change is that here is a country that not changed its name, its system of government, its political status, or its boundaries. All we know is that the change from ROM to ROU was made "following a request of the Government of Romania." We are told nothing about the nature of the request or its rationale. Indeed, the only immediately obvious advantage of ROU is that it provides a better mnemonic code for the *French* name of the country, "Roumanie." (The Romanian word for Romania is "Romania.") The only thing about Romania that has changed is its code, and that is what worries those of us who seek stability in ISO 3166. -Doug Ewell Fullerton, California