prEN ISO 19160-4

Addressing - Part 4: International postal address components and template language (ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022)

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 – Teil4: Internationale Postadressbestandteile und Vorlagensprache (ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022)

Adressage - Partie 4: Composants et langages des modèles d'adresses postales internationales (ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022)

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/DIS 19160-4:2022)

General Information

• Status: Not Published
• ICS: 03.240 - Postal services
• ICS: 35.240.69 - IT applications in postal services
• ICS: 35.240.70 - IT applications in science
• Technical Committee: CEN/TC 331 - Postal services
• Current Stage: 4599 - Dispatch of FV draft to CMC - Finalization for Vote
• Due Date: 18-Oct-2022
• Completion Date: 18-Oct-2022
• Ref Project: oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022 - Addressing - Part 4: International postal address components and template language (ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022)

RELATIONS

• Revised: EN ISO 19160-4:2017 - Addressing - Part 4: International postal address components and template language (ISO 19160-4:2017)
• Effective Date: 28-Jul-2021

Standards Content (sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
01-april-2022
Naslavljanje - 4. del: Sestavni deli in jezikovne predloge mednarodnega poštnega
naslova (ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022)

Addressing - Part 4: International postal address components and template language

(ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022)
Adressierung – Teil4: Internationale Postadressbestandteile und Vorlagensprache
(ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022)
Adressage - Partie 4: Composants et langages des modèles d'adresses postales
internationales (ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN ISO 19160-4
ICS:
03.240 Poštne storitve Postal services
35.240.69 Uporabniške rešitve IT pri IT applications in postal
poštnih storitvah services
oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022 en,fr,de

2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD
ISO/DIS 19160-4
ISO/TC 211 Secretariat: SIS
Voting begins on: Voting terminates on:
2022-02-02 2022-04-27
Addressing —
Part 4:
International postal address components and template
language
Adressage —
Partie 4: Composants et langages des modèles d'adresses postales internationales
ICS: 35.240.70
This document is circulated as received from the committee secretariat.
THIS DOCUMENT IS A DRAFT CIRCULATED
FOR COMMENT AND APPROVAL. IT IS
ISO/CEN PARALLEL PROCESSING
THEREFORE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND MAY
NOT BE REFERRED TO AS AN INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD UNTIL PUBLISHED AS SUCH.
IN ADDITION TO THEIR EVALUATION AS
BEING ACCEPTABLE FOR INDUSTRIAL,
TECHNOLOGICAL, COMMERCIAL AND
USER PURPOSES, DRAFT INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS MAY ON OCCASION HAVE TO
BE CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THEIR
POTENTIAL TO BECOME STANDARDS TO
WHICH REFERENCE MAY BE MADE IN
Reference number
NATIONAL REGULATIONS.
ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022(E)
RECIPIENTS OF THIS DRAFT ARE INVITED
TO SUBMIT, WITH THEIR COMMENTS,
NOTIFICATION OF ANY RELEVANT PATENT
RIGHTS OF WHICH THEY ARE AWARE AND TO
PROVIDE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION. © ISO 2022
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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022(E)
COPYRIGHT PROTECTED DOCUMENT
© ISO 2022

All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, 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
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Phone: [phone]
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Published in Switzerland
© ISO 2022 – All rights reserved
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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022(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 ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

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 ........................................................................................................................................... ................... 11

6.5 Postal address sub-elements .................................................................................................................................................. 17

6.6 Requirement for composition ................................................................................................................................................ 19

7 Element and sub-element codes .......................................................................................................................................................20

7.1 General ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 20

7.2 Requirement for a U-code .......................................................................................................................................................... 20

8 Postal address rendering ........................................................................................................................................................................21

8.1 General ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 21

8.2 Rendering parameters .................................................................................................................................................................. 23

8.3 Rendition instructions ........................................................................................................................................... .......................23

8.3.1 General .....................................................................................................................................................................................23

8.3.2 Concatenation .................................................................................................................................................................... 24

8.3.3 Abbreviation........................................................................................................................................................................ 24

8.3.4 Punctuation .................. ......................................................................................................................... ............................... 24

8.4 Requirements for rendering of postal address ....................................................................................................... 24

8.5 Requirement for domain of postal address template ....................................................................................... 25

9 Postal address template description language (PATDL) ........................................................................................25

9.1 General ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 25

9.2 PATDL as an XML Schema ..........................................................................................................................................................26

9.2.1 General .....................................................................................................................................................................................26

9.2.2 Requirement for encoding of rendering rules ....................................................................................... 26

9.2.3 Requirement for data populating PATDL elements .......................................................................... 26

9.3 PATDL elements .................................................................................................................................................................................. 27

9.3.1 General ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 27

9.3.2 templateIdentifier ..........................................................................................................................................................28

9.3.3 userPreferences................................................................................................................................................................28

9.3.4 triggerConditions............................................................................................................................................................28

9.3.5 lineData .................................................................................................................................................................................... 30

9.3.6 combineData ....................................................................................................................................................................... 33

Annex A (normative) Abstract test suites ...................................................................................................................................................35

Annex B (informative) Postal address profile of ISO 19160-1 ...............................................................................................37

Annex C (informative) Mapping conventions ......................................................................................................................................... 44

Annex D (informative) Template design patterns ..............................................................................................................................53

iii
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Annex E (informative) PATDL features ..........................................................................................................................................................57

Annex F (informative) Example of PATDL template .........................................................................................................................60

Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................63

© ISO 2022 – All rights reserved
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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022(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.

This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO 19160-4:2017), which has been

technically revised.
A list of all parts in the ISO 19160 series can be found on the ISO website.

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A

complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
© ISO 2022 – All rights reserved
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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022(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
© ISO 2022 – All rights reserved
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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022(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, Version 8 and has been developed with UPU. It was adopted by CEN

as a replacement for EN 14142-1.

This edition of ISO 19160-4 extends the list of address components by adding new address element:

— telephone number.
vii
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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022(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

code

ISO 15924, Information and documentation — Codes for the representation of names of scripts

ITU-T E.164, The international public telecommunication numbering plan
© ISO 2022 – All rights reserved
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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022(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 https:// www .electropedia .org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// 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.
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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
ISO/DIS 19160-4:2022(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.
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oSIST prEN ISO 19160-4:2022
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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
...