Geopolitical Codes (Formerly FIPS PUB 10-4)

Codes for geopolitical entities used in the GNS are based on the U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard Publication 10-4 "Countries, Dependencies, Areas of Special Sovereignty, and Their Principal Administrative Divisions" (also known as FIPS PUB 10-4).

• FIPS 10-4 Countries, Dependencies, Areas of Special Sovereignty, and Their Principal Administrative Divisions official listing (April 1995).



• FIPS 10-4 Change Notices



• FIPS PUB 10-4 Withdrawal

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 PUB 10-4) Federal Register Notice. The decision to withdraw FIPS PUB 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 PUB 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).