EN ISO 19160-4:2017
(Main)Addressing - Part 4: International postal address components and template language (ISO 19160-4:2017)
Addressing - Part 4: International postal address components and template language (ISO 19160-4:2017)
ISO 19160-4:2017 defines key terms for postal addressing, postal address components and constraints on their use.
Specifically, ISO 19160-4:2017 defines postal address components organized into three hierarchical levels:
- elements, such as organization name or postcode, which have well-defined conceptual meaning and are not themselves made up of subordinate components, though they may be sub-divided for technical purposes;
- constructs, such as organization identification, which group elements into units form a logical portion of a postal address;
- segments, such as addressee specification, which group-related postal address constructs and/or postal address elements into units with a specific defined function.
ISO 19160-4:2017 also specifies a mechanism for creation of sub-elements, which correspond to either sub-divisions of element content, such as door type or door indicator or to multiple occurrences and locations of elements in an address, such as levels of administrative regions.
ISO 19160-4:2017 does not specify the length of any component nor the value range of any component.
Moreover, ISO 19160-4:2017 defines the codes to identify elements and sub-elements.
Further, ISO 19160-4:2017 specifies postal address rendering rules. This includes identification and ordering of output lines in a rendered address, conditions for selection of candidate lines, the order and concatenation of postal address components, required and optional components, parameters to contextualize address for rendering and the formatting of the components, subject to constraints on the space available for that task. Postal address rendering rules are represented in ISO 19160-4:2017 as a postal address template.
Finally, ISO 19160-4:2017 specifies language suitable for computer processing to formally express postal address templates.
Adressierung - Teil 4: Bestandteile internationaler postalischer Anschriften und Template-Sprachen (ISO 19160-4:2017)
Dieser Teil der ISO 19160 bestimmt die Schlüsselbegriffe für postalische Anschriften, Bestandteile postalischer Anschriften und Einschränkungen ihrer Nutzung.
Besonders dieser Teil der ISO 19160 bestimmt die Bestandteile der postalischen Anschriften, die in drei hierarchischen Ebenen organisiert sind:
- Elemente, wie der Name der Organisation oder die Postleitzahl, die eine eindeutige begriffliche Bedeutung haben und die selbst nicht aus untergeordneten Elementen zusammengesetzt worden sind, obwohl sie zu technischen Zwecken unterteilt werden können;
- Aufbauten, wie die Identifizierung einer Organisation, die Elemente in Einheiten zusammenfassen, die einen logischen Teil einer postalischen Anschrift bilden;
- Segmente, wie Empfängerangabe, die die zugehörigen Aufbauten und/oder Bestandteile der posta-lischen Adressen in Einheiten mit einer genau festgelegten Funktion zusammenfassen.
Dieser Teil von ISO 19160 legt auch einen Mechanismus für die Erstellung von Elementbestandteilen fest, die entweder den Unterabteilungen von Elementinhalt, wie Tür-Typ oder Türangabe, entspricht oder um Vorkommen und Örtlichkeiten von Elementen in Adressen, wie Ebenen der administrativen Bereiche zu vervielfachen.
Dieser Teil der ISO 19160 legt nicht die Länge und den Wertebereich von Bestandteilen fest.
Außerdem legt dieser Teil der ISO 19160 die Codes fest, um Elemente und Elementbestandteile zu identifizieren.
Weiter legt dieser Teil der ISO 19160 die Ausgabevorschriften postalischer Anschriften fest. Dies schließt die Identifizierung und Anordnung von Ausgabezeilen in einer ausgegebenen Adresse, die Bedingungen zur Auswahl von Kandidatenzeilen, die Reihenfolge und Verknüpfung von Elementen postalischer Adressen, Pflicht- und optionale Elemente, Parameter, um die Adresse zur Ausgabe in Kontext zu setzen, und die Formatierung der Elemente je nach den Beschränkungen des hierzu verfügbaren Platzes fest. Die Vorschriften zur Ausgabe von postalischen Anschriften werden als Vorlage für postalische Anschriften in diesem Teil der ISO 19160 dargestellt.
Schließlich legt dieser Teil von ISO 19160 die passende Sprache für Computerprozesse fest, um postalische Anschriftentemplates formell auszudrücken.
Adressage - Partie 4: Composants et langages des modèles d'adresses postales internationales (ISO 19160-4:2017)
ISO 19160-4:2017 définit les termes clés relatifs à l'adressage postal, aux composants d'adresse postale et aux contraintes d'utilisation associées.
ISO 19160-4:2017 décrit plus particulièrement les composants d'adresse postale en les organisant en trois niveaux hiérarchiques:
- les éléments, comme le nom de l'organisme ou le code postal, qui ont un sens conceptuel bien défini et qui ne sont pas eux-mêmes constitués de composants subordonnés, bien qu'ils puissent être subdivisés pour des raisons techniques;
- les constructions, comme l'identification de l'organisme, qui regroupent des éléments en unités pour former une portion logique d'une adresse postale;
- les segments, comme la spécification du destinataire, qui regroupent des constructions et/ou des éléments d'adresse postale connexes en unités ayant une fonction spécifique définie.
ISO 19160-4:2017 définit également un mécanisme de création de sous-éléments qui correspondent à des subdivisions du contenu d'un élément, comme le type de porte ou l'indicateur de porte, ou à plusieurs occurrences et emplacements d'un élément dans une adresse, comme les niveaux des régions administratives.
ISO 19160-4:2017 ne spécifie la longueur ni la plage de valeurs d'aucun des composants.
En outre, le présent document définit les codes permettant d'identifier les éléments et les sous-éléments.
Par ailleurs, il spécifie les règles de rendu des adresses postales. Ces règles concernent l'identification et le classement des lignes de sortie dans une adresse présentée, les conditions de sélection des lignes candidates, l'ordre et la concaténation des composants d'adresse postale, les composants obligatoires et facultatifs, les paramètres permettant de contextualiser une adresse en vue de sa présentation et le formatage des composants, selon les contraintes de l'espace disponible pour cette tâche. Le présent document exprime les règles de rendu des adresses postales sous la forme d'un modèle d'adresse postale.
Enfin, le présent document définit un langage adapté au traitement informatique permettant d'exprimer de manière formelle les modèles d'adresses postales.
Naslavljanje - 4. del: Sestavni deli in jezikovne predloge mednarodnega poštnega naslova (ISO 19160-4:2017)
General Information
- Status
- Withdrawn
- Publication Date
- 12-Dec-2017
- Withdrawal Date
- 20-Jan-2026
- Technical Committee
- CEN/TC 331 - Postal services
- Drafting Committee
- CEN/TC 331/WG 3 - Automatic identification of items - Addresses
- Current Stage
- 9960 - Withdrawal effective - Withdrawal
- Start Date
- 19-Apr-2023
- Completion Date
- 21-Jan-2026
Relations
- Replaces
EN 14142-1:2011 - Postal services - Address databases - Part 1: Components of postal addresses - Effective Date
- 20-Dec-2017
- Effective Date
- 18-Jan-2023
- Effective Date
- 28-Jan-2026
- Effective Date
- 28-Jan-2026
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Frequently Asked Questions
EN ISO 19160-4:2017 is a standard published by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Its full title is "Addressing - Part 4: International postal address components and template language (ISO 19160-4:2017)". This standard covers: ISO 19160-4:2017 defines key terms for postal addressing, postal address components and constraints on their use. Specifically, ISO 19160-4:2017 defines postal address components organized into three hierarchical levels: - elements, such as organization name or postcode, which have well-defined conceptual meaning and are not themselves made up of subordinate components, though they may be sub-divided for technical purposes; - constructs, such as organization identification, which group elements into units form a logical portion of a postal address; - segments, such as addressee specification, which group-related postal address constructs and/or postal address elements into units with a specific defined function. ISO 19160-4:2017 also specifies a mechanism for creation of sub-elements, which correspond to either sub-divisions of element content, such as door type or door indicator or to multiple occurrences and locations of elements in an address, such as levels of administrative regions. ISO 19160-4:2017 does not specify the length of any component nor the value range of any component. Moreover, ISO 19160-4:2017 defines the codes to identify elements and sub-elements. Further, ISO 19160-4:2017 specifies postal address rendering rules. This includes identification and ordering of output lines in a rendered address, conditions for selection of candidate lines, the order and concatenation of postal address components, required and optional components, parameters to contextualize address for rendering and the formatting of the components, subject to constraints on the space available for that task. Postal address rendering rules are represented in ISO 19160-4:2017 as a postal address template. Finally, ISO 19160-4:2017 specifies language suitable for computer processing to formally express postal address templates.
ISO 19160-4:2017 defines key terms for postal addressing, postal address components and constraints on their use. Specifically, ISO 19160-4:2017 defines postal address components organized into three hierarchical levels: - elements, such as organization name or postcode, which have well-defined conceptual meaning and are not themselves made up of subordinate components, though they may be sub-divided for technical purposes; - constructs, such as organization identification, which group elements into units form a logical portion of a postal address; - segments, such as addressee specification, which group-related postal address constructs and/or postal address elements into units with a specific defined function. ISO 19160-4:2017 also specifies a mechanism for creation of sub-elements, which correspond to either sub-divisions of element content, such as door type or door indicator or to multiple occurrences and locations of elements in an address, such as levels of administrative regions. ISO 19160-4:2017 does not specify the length of any component nor the value range of any component. Moreover, ISO 19160-4:2017 defines the codes to identify elements and sub-elements. Further, ISO 19160-4:2017 specifies postal address rendering rules. This includes identification and ordering of output lines in a rendered address, conditions for selection of candidate lines, the order and concatenation of postal address components, required and optional components, parameters to contextualize address for rendering and the formatting of the components, subject to constraints on the space available for that task. Postal address rendering rules are represented in ISO 19160-4:2017 as a postal address template. Finally, ISO 19160-4:2017 specifies language suitable for computer processing to formally express postal address templates.
EN ISO 19160-4:2017 is classified under the following ICS (International Classification for Standards) categories: 03.240 - Postal services; 35.240.70 - IT applications in science. The ICS classification helps identify the subject area and facilitates finding related standards.
EN ISO 19160-4:2017 has the following relationships with other standards: It is inter standard links to EN 14142-1:2011, EN ISO 19160-4:2023, EN 13369:2018, EN ISO 21530:2004. Understanding these relationships helps ensure you are using the most current and applicable version of the standard.
EN ISO 19160-4:2017 is associated with the following European legislation: EU Directives/Regulations: 97/67/EC; Standardization Mandates: M/428. When a standard is cited in the Official Journal of the European Union, products manufactured in conformity with it benefit from a presumption of conformity with the essential requirements of the corresponding EU directive or regulation.
EN ISO 19160-4:2017 is available in PDF format for immediate download after purchase. The document can be added to your cart and obtained through the secure checkout process. Digital delivery ensures instant access to the complete standard document.
Standards Content (Sample)
SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-marec-2018
1DGRPHãþD
SIST EN 14142-1:2011
Naslavljanje - 4. del: Sestavni deli in jezikovne predloge mednarodnega poštnega
naslova (ISO 19160-4:2017)
Addressing - Part 4: International postal address components and template languages
(ISO 19160-4:2017)
Postalische Dienstleistungen - Adressdatenbanken - Teil 1: Bestandteile der
postalischen Anschrift (ISO 19160-4:2017)
Adressage - Partie 4: Composants et langages des modèles d`adresses postales
internationales (ISO 19160-4:2017)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN ISO 19160-4:2017
ICS:
03.240 Poštne storitve Postal services
35.240.69 Uporabniške rešitve IT pri IT applications in postal
poštnih storitvah services
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.
EN ISO 19160-4
EUROPEAN STANDARD
NORME EUROPÉENNE
December 2017
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 35.240.70 Supersedes EN 14142-1:2011
English Version
Addressing - Part 4: International postal address
components and template language (ISO 19160-4:2017)
Adressage - Partie 4: Composants et langages des Adressierung - Teil 4: Bestandteile internationaler
modèles d'adresses postales internationales (ISO postalischer Anschriften und Template-Sprachen (ISO
19160-4:2017) 19160-4:2017)
This European Standard was approved by CEN on 12 December 2017.
CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this
European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references
concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN
member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by
translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management
Centre has the same status as the official versions.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey and United Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2017 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. EN ISO 19160-4:2017 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.
Contents Page
European foreword . 3
European foreword
This document (EN ISO 19160-4:2017) has been prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 211
“Geographic information/Geomatics” in collaboration with Technical Committee CEN/TC 331 “Postal
services” the secretariat of which is held by NEN.
This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an
identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by June 2018, and conflicting national standards shall be
withdrawn at the latest by June 2018.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This document supersedes EN 14142-1:2011.
This document has been prepared under a mandate given to CEN by the European Commission and the
European Free Trade Association.
According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the
following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Endorsement notice
The text of ISO 19160-4:2017 has been approved by CEN as EN ISO 19160-4:2017 without any
modification.
INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 19160-4
First edition
2017-11
Addressing —
Part 4:
International postal address
components and template language
Adressage —
Partie 4: Composants et langages des modèles d'adresses postales
internationales
Reference number
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
©
ISO 2017
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
© ISO 2017, Published in Switzerland
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on the internet or an intranet, without prior
written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of
the requester.
ISO copyright office
Ch. de Blandonnet 8 • CP 401
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva, Switzerland
Tel. +41 22 749 01 11
Fax +41 22 749 09 47
copyright@iso.org
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ii © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
Contents Page
Foreword .v
Introduction .vi
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 2
4 Abbreviated terms . 6
5 Conformance . 6
5.1 Composition . 6
5.2 U-code . 6
5.3 Rendering of postal address . 6
5.4 PATDL template . 6
6 Postal address components . 7
6.1 General . 7
6.2 Postal address segments . 9
6.3 Postal address constructs .10
6.4 Postal address elements .10
6.5 Postal address sub-elements .16
6.6 Requirement for composition .19
7 Element and sub-element codes .19
7.1 General .19
7.2 Requirement for a U-code .19
8 Postal address rendering .20
8.1 General .20
8.2 Rendering parameters .22
8.3 Rendition instructions .22
8.3.1 General.22
8.3.2 Concatenation.23
8.3.3 Abbreviation .23
8.3.4 Punctuation .23
8.4 Requirements for rendering of postal address .23
8.5 Requirement for domain of postal address template .24
9 Postal address template description language (PATDL) .24
9.1 General .24
9.2 PATDL as an XML Schema .24
9.2.1 General.24
9.2.2 Requirement for encoding of rendering rules .25
9.2.3 Requirement for data populating PATDL elements .25
9.3 PATDL elements .25
9.3.1 General.25
9.3.2 templateIdentifier .26
9.3.3 userPreferences .27
9.3.4 triggerConditions .27
9.3.5 lineData .29
9.3.6 combineData.31
Annex A (normative) Abstract test suites .33
Annex B (informative) Postal address profile of ISO 19160-1 .35
Annex C (informative) Mapping conventions.42
Annex D (informative) Template design patterns.51
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
Annex E (informative) PATDL features .55
Annex F (informative) Example of PATDL template .58
Bibliography .61
iv © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following
URL: www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 211, Geographic information/Geomatics.
A list of all parts in the ISO 19160 series can be found on the ISO website.
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
Introduction
Postal service provides letter, package and parcel delivery on a global and universal basis, without the
need for mailers and recipients to enter into explicit service contracts. Postal addresses, which combine
private recipient information with publicly known delivery point data, provide the mechanism through
which mailers specify the intended recipient and the means by which the postal operator can fulfil its
delivery commitment.
Traditionally, postal operators have been highly flexible with regard to the manner in which postal
items can be addressed; any form and content of address was acceptable as long as it permitted
sufficiently unambiguous determination of the delivery point. Even today, many posts pride themselves
on their ability, using staff intelligence and local knowledge, to deliver postal items carrying incomplete
or unusual address representations.
However, increasing volumes and labour cost rates long ago reached the point at which automation
became not only economic, but essential. As a result, it has become more and more vital to ensure that
the vast majority of postal items are addressed in a way which can be processed automatically, without
risk of misinterpretation.
When mail is sent with addresses that are incorrect or incomplete, there is the possibility of
undeliverable as addressed mail (UAA mail) which results in the mail being sent back to a return
address, being sent on to a forwarding address or discarded as waste. All this unnecessary work has
negative economic consequences.
Today, the vast majority of postal items carry printed addresses which are extracted from computer
databases. Such databases need to be maintained in the face of population mobility, creation
and retirement of delivery points and changes in their specification, such as renaming of streets,
renumbering of properties, etc. Moreover, there is a growing need for validation of addresses in
e-commerce and the tendency for organizations to exchange or trade address data and for organizations
in one country to hold address data of organizations and individuals in other countries, which might
use different approaches to the rendering of postal addresses.
Addresses can be rendered according to rules that differ from country to country or from one mailing
event (a batch of mail, e.g. letters or monthly statements, sent by a mailer at one time) to another. This
document does not impose any obligation on countries or mailers on how addresses shall be rendered
but provides a language to express rendering rules recommended by postal operators for mailing
purposes.
Templates specified according to this document may be used to exchange information about address
rendering rules on international cross-border mail and domestic mail. These templates are available
from the UPU for all countries which have approved them. This facilitates automated processing of mail
and international e-commerce deliveries. Rendition engines based on this document are expected to
produce the same results for the same addresses. This is conditional upon using approved templates
with the same parameters. Even if this were not the case, consistency remains an appropriate goal.
The intended readers of this document include designers and developers of computer systems that
process global postal address data including postal address rendering, those who formulate and
implement international addressing policies and anyone seeking to reduce UAA mail.
The preparatory work for this project is described in Review summary of the ISO 19160 stage zero project
[2]
(20110) and recommended five projects with the following titles:
— Addressing – Conceptual model
— Addressing – Good practices for address assignment schemes
— Addressing – Quality management for address data
— Addressing – International postal address components and template language
vi © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
— Addressing – Address rendering for purposes other than mail
This document implements the fourth of these recommendations and focuses solely on addresses for
postal purposes. Addresses for other purposes are described in other parts of ISO 19160.
This document is based on UPU S42, Part A, Version 7 and has been developed with UPU. It is intended
to be adopted by CEN as a replacement for EN 14142-1.
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
Addressing —
Part 4:
International postal address components and template
language
1 Scope
This document defines key terms for postal addressing, postal address components and constraints on
their use.
Specifically, this document defines postal address components organized into three hierarchical levels:
— elements, such as organization name or postcode, which have well-defined conceptual meaning
and are not themselves made up of subordinate components, though they may be sub-divided for
technical purposes;
— constructs, such as organization identification, which group elements into units form a logical
portion of a postal address;
— segments, such as addressee specification, which group-related postal address constructs and/or
postal address elements into units with a specific defined function.
This document also specifies a mechanism for creation of sub-elements, which correspond to either
sub-divisions of element content, such as door type or door indicator or to multiple occurrences and
locations of elements in an address, such as levels of administrative regions.
This document does not specify the length of any component nor the value range of any component.
Moreover, this document defines the codes to identify elements and sub-elements.
Further, this document specifies postal address rendering rules. This includes identification and
ordering of output lines in a rendered address, conditions for selection of candidate lines, the order
and concatenation of postal address components, required and optional components, parameters to
contextualize address for rendering and the formatting of the components, subject to constraints on
the space available for that task. Postal address rendering rules are represented in this document as a
postal address template.
Finally, this document specifies language suitable for computer processing to formally express postal
address templates.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 639-1, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 1: Alpha-2 code
ISO 3166-1, Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions — Part 1: Country codes
ISO 15924, Information and documentation — Codes for the representation of names of scripts
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1
address
structured information that allows the unambiguous determination of an object for purposes of
identification and location
[SOURCE: ISO 19160-1:2015, 4.1]
3.2
addressable object
object that may be assigned an address (3.1)
[SOURCE: ISO 19160-1:2015, 4.2]
3.3
addressee
party (3.10) who is the ultimate recipient of a delivery (3.4) item or service
Note 1 to entry: The addressee may be explicitly defined as part of the postal address (3.11), or may be implicit.
For example, in certain countries, omission of addressee information is taken as implying that delivery is to be to
an individual or legal entity having legal access to the delivery point (3.6).
Note 2 to entry: Mr. or Mrs. Smith specifies that the addressee is either of two individuals, while Mr. Jones and
Mrs. Smith denote that the addressee is a group of two individuals. See also role descriptor.
Note 3 to entry: The use made by the postal operator (3.23) of addressee and mailee (3.8) data might be dependent
on the postal service applicable to the postal item (3.22). For some services, such as registered mail, the postal
operator’s responsibility might include ensuring that the addressee or a duly authorized representative
acknowledges receipt of the postal item. In other cases, addressee data could be purely informative or used by
the postal operator only for consistency checking and/or for the activation of forwarding services. In other cases,
it might be used for sorting or sequencing purposes prior to delivery, e.g. in the case of business mail being pre-
sequenced by department or individual company official.
Note 4 to entry: In some countries, the addressee may be an abstraction such as “postal customer”.
3.4
delivery
process in which a postal item (3.22) leaves the responsibility of the postal operator (3.23)
through being handed over to, or left for collection by, the addressee (3.3), the mailee (3.8) or an
authorized representative, or deposited in a private letter box accessible to one or other of these
Note 1 to entry: Delivery does not always imply receipt by the addressee or mailee.
3.5
delivery address
postal address (3.11) which the postal operator (3.23) is requested to use to deliver the postal
item (3.22)
Note 1 to entry: In the normal case, the delivery address is the same as the postal address specified by the
mailer (3.9).
Note 2 to entry: The delivery address may in certain circumstances, e.g. unaddressed mail, not actually
be represented on the postal item. In this case, the delivery address is determined by the postal operator in
accordance with an agreement between the operator and the mailer.
2 © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
Note 3 to entry: The postal item might not actually be delivered to the requested delivery address. For example,
in the case of forwarding, delivery (3.4) takes place at the forwarding address.
3.6
delivery point
physical location recognized by a postal operator (3.23) as a valid location at which delivery
(3.4) may occur
3.7
mail recipient
individual who actually receives a postal item (3.22) at delivery (3.4) or who first accesses the postal
item if it is left for collection
Note 1 to entry: The mail recipient is normally the addressee (3.3), the mailee (3.8) or an authorized representative
of one of these two. However, this might not always be the case, e.g. if the postal item is left for collection in
a location to which third parties have access; if the addressee/mailee have moved without leaving forwarding
instructions or if the addressee or mailee specification was ambiguous and was, as a result, misinterpreted by
the postal operator (3.23).
3.8
mailee
party (3.10) designated in a postal address (3.11) as having responsibility for ensuring that postal items
(3.22) reach their addressee (3.3)
Note 1 to entry: Unlike the addressee, the mailee is always specified explicitly in a postal address, i.e. if a postal
address does not contain a mailee, then there is no mailee.
Note 2 to entry: Notwithstanding Note 1 to entry, the mailee may be designated explicitly by use of a role
descriptor or designated implicitly with no role descriptor.
Note 3 to entry: As is the case for addressee, a mailee specified in a postal address might be ambiguous.
3.9
mailer
party (3.10) who carries out one or more of the processes involved in creating, producing, finishing,
inducting and paying the postage due for a postal item (3.22)
3.10
party
one or more natural and/or legal persons and/or organizations without legal personality that
act(s) as a single entity for the purpose of participation in a transaction associated with a postal item (3.22)
3.11
postal address
address (3.1), possibly inclusive of the explicit identity of an addressee (3.3), where the addressable
object (3.2) is an actual or potential delivery point (3.6) for a postal item (3.22)
3.12
postal address component
component
constituent part of a postal address (3.11)
EXAMPLE Locality, postcode, thoroughfare, premises identifier.
Note 1 to entry: The components of postal addresses are defined in 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4.
Note 2 to entry: A postal address component may be, but is not limited to, an element, a construct or a segment.
Note 3 to entry: For convenience, the preferred term “postal address component” has been shortened to the
admitted term “component” throughout this document.
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
3.13
postal address construct
construct
postal address component (3.12) combining postal address elements (3.15) which
together form a logical portion of a postal address (3.11)
Note 1 to entry: The constructs are specified in 6.2.
Note 2 to entry: For convenience, the preferred term “postal address construct” has been shortened to the
admitted term “construct” throughout this document.
3.14
postal address domain
domain
an area in which a set of specific postal address types (3.21) and postal address
renderings (3.18) is prescribed by postal operators (3.23)
EXAMPLE The most typical example of a postal address domain is a country where a designated postal
operator provides postal delivery services.
Note 1 to entry: For convenience, the preferred term “postal address domain” has been shortened to the admitted
term “domain” throughout this document.
3.15
postal address element
element
postal address component (3.12) that has a well-defined conceptual meaning with
significance for customer or postal processing purposes and is not itself made up of subordinate
components
Note 1 to entry: The elements are specified in 6.4.
Note 2 to entry: For convenience, the preferred term “postal address element” has been shortened to the admitted
term “element” throughout this document.
3.16
postal address element code
U-code
condensed representation for a postal address element (3.15) or sub-element (3.17)
Note 1 to entry: The postal address element code conforms to conventions specified in 7.2 and is relatively
language independent when compared with the element and sub-element names.
3.17
postal address sub-element
sub-element
identifier of either a sub-division of a postal address element (3.15) value or one of
multiple occurrences of an element in a postal address (3.11)
Note 1 to entry: Postal address sub-elements are used to facilitate postal address rendering (3.18), database
storage and related technical needs and should not be considered as specific cases of postal address components.
Note 2 to entry: Postal address sub-elements are further described in 6.5.
Note 3 to entry: For convenience, the preferred term “postal address sub-element” has been shortened to the
admitted term “sub-element” throughout this document.
3.18
postal address rendering
address rendition
process in which the rendered address (3.24) is created
4 © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
3.19
postal address segment
segment
postal address component (3.12) comprising a named group of related postal address
constructs (3.13) and/or postal address elements (3.15) with a specific defined function
Note 1 to entry: Postal address segments are specified in 6.2.
Note 2 to entry: For convenience, the preferred term “postal address segment” has been shortened to the
admitted term “segment” throughout this document.
3.20
postal address template
template
specification of postal address renderings (3.18) within a postal address domain (3.14)
Note 1 to entry: Postal address template may need to include rendition instructions (3.26).
Note 2 to entry: A template specifies also constraints for syntactical correctness of postal addresses (3.11) by
indicating which elements are mandatory and which are optional.
Note 3 to entry: Software that interprets the rendering rules provided in template is needed to produce rendered
addresses.
Note 4 to entry: Postal address templates are further described in Clause 8.
Note 5 to entry: For convenience, the preferred term “postal address template” has been shortened to the
admitted term “template” throughout this document.
3.21
postal address type
set of postal addresses (3.11) composed of the same set of mandatory and optional components
Note 1 to entry: Postal address types may differ from country to country and from region to region within a
country.
3.22
postal item
indivisible mailable entity in respect of which a mail service contractor accepts an obligation to provide
postal services
[SOURCE: UPU Standards Glossary, 3.90]
3.23
postal operator
organization licensed to provide postal services to the general public
[SOURCE: UPU Standards Glossary, 3.141]
Note 1 to entry: Postal administration is a special case of postal operator.
3.24
rendered postal address
rendered address
postal address (3.11) represented as an image in the form of a rectangular shape comprising text lines in
which postal address components (3.12) are separated and ordered
EXAMPLE Address (3.1) on mail label, order form address, address displayed on screen
Note 1 to entry: For convenience, the preferred term “rendered postal address” has been shortened to the
admitted term “rendered address” throughout this document.
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
3.25
rendering parameter
information item that defines the context for postal address rendering (3.18)
EXAMPLE When the despatching country and delivering country of the postal item (3.22) differ, it is cross-
border mailing and the full name of the delivering country is required on the last line of the rendered address.
Otherwise, it is domestic mailing and the name of the country is not required on the rendered address.
Note 1 to entry: This includes guiding of rendering of postal addresses (3.11) on an external medium, such as
labels, data files or screens
Note 2 to entry: Rendering parameters are specified in 8.2.
Note 3 to entry: Rendering parameters do not appear in the rendered postal address (3.24), but guide or define the
rendition process.
3.26
rendition instruction
operation which either formats, abbreviates, re-arranges or separates elements within address lines
when rendering a postal address (3.11)
Note 1 to entry: Postal address rendition instructions are further described in 8.3.
4 Abbreviated terms
CEN Comité Européen de Normalization
CEN/TC 331 CEN Technical Committee 331: Postal Services
PATDL Postal Address Template Description Language
UPU Universal Postal Union
XML Extensible Markup Language
5 Conformance
5.1 Composition
The abstract test suite for the purposes of conformance testing is in Annex A. Any postal address for
a specific domain, e.g. country or region, for which conformance to this class is claimed shall pass the
requirements described in the abstract test suite in A.2.
5.2 U-code
A U-code (postal address element code; see Clause 7) assigned to an element or sub-element for
which conformance with this class is claimed shall pass the requirements described in the abstract
test suite in A.3.
5.3 Rendering of postal address
A rendering of postal address for which conformance to this class is claimed shall pass the requirements
described in the abstract test suite in A.5.
5.4 PATDL template
Any PATDL template for which conformance to this class is claimed shall pass the requirements
described in the abstract test suite in A.4.
6 © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
6 Postal address components
6.1 General
Clause 6 defines how the postal address is composed from segments, constructs and elements. This is
[1]
also presented in Annex B as a profile of ISO 19160-1. Definitions of more general terms and concepts
are given in Clause 4.
These components can be used to:
— exchange address data from various countries and between various countries;
— map between databases containing addresses from multiple countries;
— specify address rendition rules for multiple countries.
A postal address specification comprises one to four segments:
— an addressee specification (optional);
— a mailee specification (optional);
— mail recipient despatching information (optional);
— a delivery point specification (mandatory).
Each of these is described in 6.2. Segments are built up from postal address constructs and postal
address elements, which are described in 6.3 and 6.4 respectively. In addition to constructs and
elements, the specification also defines sub-elements in 6.5.
Figure 1 — Relationship between segments, constructs and elements — General box view
Figures 1 and 2 show how elements are combined to form constructs and segments of addresses.
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
Figure 2 — Relationship between segments, constructs and elements — UML view
Figure 3 shows how elements defined in 6.4 are combined to form constructs and segments defined in
6.3 and 6.2.
Figure 3 — Postal address components — Segments, constructs and elements
NOTE Figure 3 does not include sub-elements. Annex B provides the conceptual hierarchy of components
and sub-elements in a form of the ISO 19160-1 profile. The full conceptual hierarchy, including the sub-elements,
is provided as the UPU dynamic code list 210 published at the UPU website under: http://www.upu.int/uploads/
tx_sbdownloader/210.xlsx.
8 © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
ISO 19160-4:2017(E)
6.2 Postal address segments
Postal address segments are postal address components comprising a named group of related postal
address constructs and/or postal address elements with a specific defined function. Postal address
segments are specified in Table 1 and depicted in Figure B.10.
Table 1 — Postal address segments
Segment Code Description
addressee 10 Segment which specifies the addressee.
specification
NOTE 1 Addressee specification is composed of either individual identification or
organization identification, possibly combined with role descriptor.
NOTE 2 Specification of the addressee can be optional or mandatory, depending on
the particular postal service for which a postal address is to be used. For example, for
normal letter mail, a delivery point specification is sufficient in many countries and in
this case, the addressee is considered as being any party which has legal access to the
delivery point. In contrast, registered mail normally carries an explicit
specification of the addressee.
mailee 20 Segment which specifies the mailee.
specification
NOTE 1 Mailee specification is composed of individual identification or organization
identification, possibly combined with role descriptor.
NOTE 2 Specification of a mailee is required only in situations in which the postal
operator is requested to deliver the postal item into the care of an individual or
organization other than the addressee.
mail recipient 30 Segment providing information intended for the routing and despatch of mail by the mail
despatching recipient, when this is not the addressee.
information
NOTE 1 Mail recipient despatching information is intended for use by the mailee, if one
is specified or by the mail recipient. It is not used by the postal operator.
NOTE 2 For postal items addressed to an organization and which are delivered by the
postal operator to a mailroom or post office box, mail recipient despatching
information can include information such as wing, stairwell, floor and door which,
in the case of more specific services (such as registered mail) form part of the delivery
point specification. Supplementary despatch information can also be required.
NOTE 3 In the case of addresses associated with an educational institution, military
facility, prison, hospital or other entity for which the postal operator delivers items to
a central point and further distribution is carried out by the institution or its agents,
mail recipient despatching information can also include designation of a building or a
complex of buildings.
delivery point 40 Segment which designates the delivery point for a postal item.
specification
NOTE 1 Delivery point specification is composed of country level information,
defining authority, locality, postcode, thoroughfare, addressed object identifier,
service point identifier and supplementary delivery point data.
NOTE 2 The association between a delivery point specification and the delivery point
may be service or time dependent. For example, while a normal letter postal item
addressed to an apartment may be delivered to a letterbox in the entry hall of the
apartment building, a registered postal item carrying an identical postal address has
to be delivered to the addressee (or his representative), possibly at the door of the
apartment itself. Similarly, the link between a business reply or freepost service
number and a delivery point might change if the customer concerned moves locations.
NOTE 3 Several delivery point specifications can be associated with a single
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