The Swedish ISO Code
If you've ever sent or received a letter from overseas, sent an international email or even traveled abroad, then you've already used an ISO country code. The International Organization for Standardization, abbreviated and standardized itself as ISO, assigns two-letter codes to nations to streamline everything from Internet use to passport assignment.
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The ISO
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The ISO is a group that creates international standards for everything from healthcare practices to URL assignments on the Internet. The countries, businesses and even individuals to which these standards apply are in no way obligated to adhere to them, as they are not law. Rather, they are voluntary guidelines.
Country Codes
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In 1974, the ISO's Maintenance Agency began assigning two-character codes for various nations as part of ISO 3166. In concordance with the ISO's goal of international standardization, these two-character codes are a universal way to identify and label countries. However, the codes are not simply abbreviations. For example, Sweden's two-character code is "SE." This is because, while the English call this country "Sweden," the French spell it "Suede" and the Swedes themselves spell it "Sverige."
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About SE
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Sweden's country code -- SE -- was part of the first wave of codes assigned by the ISO's Maintenance Agency in 1974. The ISO breaks codes down into seven categories, based on who assigned the code and any restrictions associated with it. Because SE was assigned by the ISO, Sweden's code is in the green category, which means it can be used without restrictions.
Using SE
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To mail a letter or package internationally, you need to use the ISO country code for your parcel's destination nation. That means the last part of the address for a letter destined for Sweden is SE. This code is also used online; if you've ever visited a website whose URL ends in ".se," then you've visited a website tied to Sweden. The ISO itself does not control the website; rather, it created the country code standards that have been incorporated by the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, abbreviated ICANN.
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References
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