Serbian country codes

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As state union of Serbia and Montenegro dissolved following the independence referendum in Montenegro, newly independent Serbia dealt with the issue of assignment of country codes. This task, which could seem trivial, is made hugely complex by the number of countries in the world having names which begin with the letter S. In September 2006, the proposal of the Serbian government to obtain the code RS (Republic of Serbia) was accepted by ISO.

1 Summary
2 Two-letter ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2
3 Three-letter ISO 3166-1 Alpha-3
4 International licence plate code
5 Country calling code
6 ISO 4217
7 External articles and resources
8 Sources

[edit] Summary

Code	Country status	International status	Result
ISO-3166-1 Alpha-2, also TLD	Decided	Confirmed by ISO	RS
ISO-3166-1 Alpha-3	Decided	Confirmed by ISO	SRB
International licence plate code	Not yet determined		SRB
Country calling code	Decided	Confirmed by ITU	+381
Currency code for the Serbian dinar (ISO 4217)	Decided	Confirmed by ISO	RSD

[edit] Two-letter ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2

This code, used also as Internet TLD, is the major problem with ISO assignment of country codes to Serbia. All combinations of S as a first letter and any other letter in word Serbia, or even Srbija (in Serbian), are already taken by other states:

Country names	Alpha-2
Saudi Arabia	SA
Slovenia	SI
Solomon Islands	SB
Suriname	SR
Svalbard and Jan Mayen	SJ
Sweden	SE

The Government of Serbia made an official request that the Alpha-2 code for Serbia should be RS (Republic of Serbia), but there is an ISO recommendation against any reference to the form of government in these codes. RS could also be an abbreviation for the historical name of today's Serbia, Raska or Rascia (syn. Rassa, Raschka) which would be in full compliance with this rule (see .ch). The proposal, after an initial rejection by ISO, was accepted in September 2006. [1]

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 Confœderatio Helvetica, and Democratic People's Republic of Korea has the code KP, despite the fact that the codes KO and KA are available), and Serbia had good arguments for the use of the RS code, because not a single one of the free codes beginning with S can be associated with it. 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. Other solutions could have been "generic" SS or SX, although SS was likely to be avoided for its association with Nazi Schutzstaffeln.

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 in the list 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.[2]

Also, as SB is historic code for Serbia, it was hinted that the country could pursue talks with Solomon Islands. 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.

See also: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2

[edit] Three-letter ISO 3166-1 Alpha-3

A choice between the English mnemonic SER or the Serbian SRB was the main issue with Alpha-3 code. A possible compromise between the two, SBA, has also been mentioned. (SRB should be immediately recognizable by speakers of most European languages, including English, though.)

National institute for standardization, in line with proposed alpha-2 code (SP), decided that SPA should be alpha-3 code for Serbia [3]. The logic of this proposal was unclear, since this decision had not been elaborated by the Institute, however it had resulted in a public outcry and was amended by the Government of Serbia, which proposed SRB for Alpha-3 code [4]. This was accepted by ISO in September 2006.

See also: ISO 3166-1 alpha-3

[edit] International licence plate code

Although one would presume that countries take on the shortest code possible (by rule the same as their ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2), that is not the case. Thus, "attractive" SR and SB are available for Serbia, as Suriname uses SME, while Solomon Islands are identified by SLB.

Ironically, SRB has been advertised by the press as the likely solution - even though Kingdom of Serbia previously used SB from 1911 to 1919, when it was replaced by SHS, followed by Y, YU and SCG. Abbreviation S was taken by Sweden the same year, making Serbia unable to chose it in spite of being one of first 17 countries in the world to be assigned this code.

Despite SB and SR are available for this purpose, official government bodies and the media are still maintaining the claim that international license plate code for Serbia should (and could only) be its ISO-3166-1 Alpha-3 code, SRB.

See also: List of international license plate codes

[edit] Country calling code

Serbia will keep telephone country calling code previously assigned to Serbia and Montenegro - +381. Following the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia, country code +38 was divided amongst newly independent states:

Country names	Calling code
Serbia	+381
Montenegro	+382
Croatia	+385
Slovenia	+386
Bosnia and Herzegovina	+387
Republic of Macedonia	+389

Two other codes from the 38 sequence have been assigned:

Country names	Calling code
Ukraine	+380
European Telephony Numbering Space	+388

Montenegro was assigned +382 on September 6, 2006 [5]. The new code will be phased in by February, 2007.

See also: List of country calling codes

[edit] ISO 4217

This code is used for national currency, in this case - 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 - however that is not the case here.

See also: ISO 4217