Geopolitical Codes (Formerly FIPS PUB 10-4)

On September 2, 2008 the Department of Commerce/ National Institute of Standards and Technology withdrew the Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 10-4 Specification for Countries, Dependencies, Areas of Special Sovereignty, and their Principal Administrative Divisions (FIPS 10-4) Federal Register Notice. The decision to withdraw FIPS 10-4 was based on the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-113) which directed Federal agencies and departments to use technical standards that are developed in voluntary consensus standards bodies. No successor standard for geopolitical codes for international use was identified by the Department of Commerce. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), as the maintenance authority for FIPS 10-4, will continue to maintain and provide updates to its content as necessary. Since the withdrawal announcement, numerous US Government agencies are working with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) National Information Standards Organization (NISO) Technical Committee to identify a replacement standard in the form of a draft proposed American National Standard or adopting a standard based on ISO-3166. For more information on the status of this activity, contact the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Geographic Names Office (geonames@nga.mil).

• FIPS 10-4 Countries, Dependencies, Areas of Special Sovereignty, and Their Principal Administrative Divisions official listing (April 1995).
• FIPS 10-4 Change Notices
• Geopolitical Digraph Codes and Geopolitical Entity Names (formerly FIPS 10-4) sorted by Short Form Country Name.
  • Independent States (September 30, 2009)
  • Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty (September 30, 2009)