It is therefore RESOLVED [00.74] that the IANA staff is advised that alpha-2 codes not on the ISO 3166-1 list are delegable as ccTLDs only in cases where the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency, on its exceptional reservation list, has issued a reservation of the code that covers any application of ISO 3166-1 that needs a coded representation in the name of the country, territory, or area involved;

This paragraph is astonishingly meaningless to the casual reader, but it is effectively ICANN giving IANA permission to delegate the .EU top-level domain. To understand why, a little background on the derivation of ccTLDs is useful.

The ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency [2] maintains the ISO 3166 standard. There are three parts to this standard [3]: ISO 3166-1, ISO 3166-2 and ISO 3166-3. Of relevance to the ccTLD community is the ISO 3166-1 standard which establishes codes for the current names of countries.

The ISO 3166-1 standard includes several alphanumeric codes, including the Alpha-2 codes -- two letter codes for countries and dependent areas of countries. Almost all ccTLDs are based on the ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 codes [4]. Exceptions include:

• UK (Alpha-2 code is actually GB, UK is used for historical reasons)
• ZR (was Zaire; replaced by CD, Democratic Republic of Congo)
• SU (was the Soviet Union; largely replaced by RU, Russian Federation)
• AC (Ascension Island; from the reserved list)
• GG (Guernsey; from the reserved list)
• IM (Isle of Man; from the reserved list)
• JE (Jersey; from the reserved list)

• as transitional reservations, for example when countries change their names (eg: ZR and SU)
• to prevent confusion if the codes are used in other coding systems (eg: UK)
• if governments or international organisations make a request for an exceptional reservation, usually if there is a need for a code not included in the main list (eg: AC, GG, IM and JE)

The resolution is intended to be quite narrow. It applies only to codes that are expressly designated by the ISO 3166/MA as approved for all uses, including Internet uses. The only alpha-2 code currently in that category is EU, and it is our understanding that the ISO 3166/MA only makes such designation quite rarely.

So the primary reason for the ICANN resolution is to deal with the tricky issue of the .EU top-level domain. Prior to this resolution, it was not clear if IANA had the authority to delegate codes not appearing in the main Alpha-2 code list. Subsequent to the Board's resolution, IANA now has a mandate to delegate the .EU domain to some third party.

In effect, ICANN resolution [00.74] can be translated into English as:

ICANN has given IANA permission to delegate the .EU TLD.

Ant.

[1] http://www.icann.org/minutes/prelim-report-25sep00.htm
[2] http://www.din.de/gremien/nas/nabd/iso3166ma/index.html
[3] http://www.din.de/gremien/nas/nabd/iso3166ma/a3ptnorm.html
[4] http://www.din.de/gremien/nas/nabd/iso3166ma/codlstp1/index.html
[5] http://www.din.de/gremien/nas/nabd/iso3166ma/reserved.html