Postal services - Address databases - Part 1: Components of postal addresses

The standard will define the components of the address and their formats and guidelines on how to indicate the address on a letter post item. The standard will also define data elements for postal addresses, specify data fields and define rules for the representation of address information in files and on envelopes including number of lines and characters per line.

Postalische Dienstleistungen - Adressdatenbanken - Teil 1: Bestandteile der postalischen Anschrift

Diese Europäische Norm ist ein Nachschlagewerk der möglichen Bestandteile der postalischen Anschriften mit Beispielen und Nutzungsbeschränkungen. Es werden auch eine Vielzahl sinnvoller Termini definiert wie Zustellanschrift, Weiterleitungsanschrift, Empfänger und Postersteller. Sie legt nicht die Länge und den Freimachungswert der Bestandteile fest. Sie gibt auch keine genaue Spezifikation von wiederkehrenden Regeln, obwohl einige Fälle angezeigt werden können, in denen eine Komponente mehr als einmal erscheinen kann.
ANMERKUNG 1 Bei einer einzigen postalischen Anschrift oder einer Anschriftenklasse (z. B. die Anschriften, die in einem bestimmten Land genutzt werden) kann eine Untermenge möglicher Bestandteile ausreichen. In Irland beispielsweise enthalten postalische Anschriften keine Postleitzahl, in den Niederlanden wiederum wird nicht zwischen Stationsart und Stationsname unterschieden.
Die Norm hat einen unterstützenden Charakter: Sie hilft Bestandteile, auf die in anderen, in der Einleitung beschriebenen Normen, Bezug genommen wird, zu definieren. Sie soll gemeinsam mit den anderen Teilen der Norm benutzt werden können.
In der Norm werden drei Ebenen von Bestandteilen, aus denen postalische Anschriften bestehen, definiert:
a)   Elemente wie der Name der Organisation oder der Rechtsstatus, die der niedrigsten Bestandteilebene entsprechen, bei denen es sinnvoll wäre (A.1), wenn sie in der Darstellung der Anschrift unterschieden werden könnten.
b)   Aufbauten, wie die Kennzeichnung einer Organisation, die Elemente in Einheiten zusammenfassen, die die Interpretation für Menschen erleichtern.
c)   Segmente wie die Anschriftenspezifikation, die die wesentlichen logischen Anteile einer postalischen Anschrift ausmachen.
Es wird erwartet, dass die vorliegende Norm, die ein Standardnachschlagewerk der Bestandteile postalischer Anschriften ist, die formale Beschreibung der tatsächlichen Darstellung von Adressen sowie die Definition der Verfahren zum gegenseitigen Abg

Services postaux - Bases de données d'adresses - Partie 1: Composants des adresses postales

La présente Norme européenne fournit un dictionnaire des composants possibles des adresses postales, ainsi que des exemples et les contraintes de leur utilisation. Elle définit également plusieurs termes utiles, tels que adresse de distribution, adresse de réexpédition, destinataire intermédiaire et initiateur du courrier. Elle ne spécifie pas la longueur ou étendue de valeur des composants, elle ne donne pas non plus de spécification précise sur les regles de récurrence, meme si elle indique quelques cas dans lesquels un composant peut apparaître plus d'une fois.
NOTE 1   Il est a noter qu'une adresse postale individuelle ou une classe d'adresses postales (telle que les adresses utilisées dans un pays donné) peut n'utiliser qu'un seul sous-ensemble des composants possibles. Par exemple, les adresses postales irlandaises ne comportent pas de code postal, les adresses hollandaises ne font pas de distinction entre le type de voie et le nom de voie.
La présente norme est une norme habilitante : elle sert a définir des composants qui sont abordés dans d'autres normes indiquées ci-apres dans le paragraphe " Références normatives ". Elle est destinée a etre utilisée en parallele avec les autres parties de la série.
La norme définit trois niveaux de composant d'adresse postale :
a)   les éléments, tels que nom d'organisme ou statut juridique, qui correspondent au niveau le plus bas des composants qu'il peut etre utile (A.1) de distinguer dans les représentations d'adresses ;
b)   les constructions, telles que identification d'organisme, qui regroupent des éléments en unités plus significatives pour l'interprétation humaine ;
c)   les segments, tels que spécification de destinataire, qui correspondent a des portions logiques majeures d'une adresse postale.
Par ce dictionnaire normatif des composants d'adresses postales, la présente norme devrait largement faciliter la description formelle des représentations d'adresses réelles et la définition des procédures de correspondanc

Poštne storitve - Baze naslovov - 1. del: Sestavni deli poštnih naslovov

General Information

Status
Withdrawn
Publication Date
31-Dec-2003
Withdrawal Date
29-Aug-2011
Technical Committee
Current Stage
9900 - Withdrawal (Adopted Project)
Start Date
30-Aug-2011
Due Date
22-Sep-2011
Completion Date
30-Aug-2011

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2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.Poštne storitve - Baze naslovov - 1. del: Sestavni deli poštnih naslovovPostalische Dienstleistungen - Adressdatenbanken - Teil 1: Bestandteile der postalischen AnschriftServices postaux - Bases de données d'adresses - Partie 1: Composants des adresses postalesPostal services - Address databases - Part 1: Components of postal addresses03.240Poštne storitvePostal servicesICS:Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z:EN 14142-1:2003SIST EN 14142-1:2004en01-januar-2004SIST EN 14142-1:2004SLOVENSKI
STANDARD



SIST EN 14142-1:2004



EUROPEAN STANDARDNORME EUROPÉENNEEUROPÄISCHE NORMEN 14142-1February 2003ICS 03.240English versionPostal services - Address databases - Part 1: Components ofpostal addressesServices postaux - Bases de données d'adresse - Partie 1:Composants des adresses postalesPostalische Dienstleistungen - Adressdatenbanken - Teil 1:Bestandteile der postalischen AnschriftThis European Standard was approved by CEN on 28 November 2002.CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this EuropeanStandard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such nationalstandards may be obtained on application to the 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 translationunder the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the Management Centre has the same status as the officialversions.CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and UnitedKingdom.EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATIONCOMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATIONEUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNGManagement Centre: rue de Stassart, 36
B-1050 Brussels© 2003 CENAll rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reservedworldwide for CEN national Members.Ref. No. EN 14142-1:2003 ESIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)2ContentspageForeword.3Introduction.41Scope.52Normative references.63Terms and definitions.64Postal Address Components.124.1Postal Address Segments.134.2Postal Address Constructs.174.3Postal Address Elements.20Annex A
(informative)
Extension of the specification.26Annex B
(informative)
Examples.28Annex C
(informative)
Country and country code designations.30Bibliography.31SIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)3ForewordThis document (EN 14142-1:2003) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 331 "Postal Services", thesecretariat 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 orby endorsement, at the latest by August 2003, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest byAugust 2003.This document has been prepared under a mandate given to CEN by the European Commission and the EuropeanFree Trade Association, and supports essential requirements of EU Directive(s).Annexes A, B and C are informative.According to the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the followingcountries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland,France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.SIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)4IntroductionThe postal service provides letter, package and parcel delivery1) on a global and universal basis, without the needfor recipients to enter into explicit service contracts. Postal addresses, which combine private recipientinformation with publicly known delivery point data, provide the mechanism through which mailers specify theintended 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 beaddressed: any form and content of address was acceptable as long as it permitted sufficiently unambiguousdetermination of the delivery point. Even today, many posts pride themselves on their ability, using staff intelligenceand local demographic 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 notonly economic, but essential. As a result, it has become more and more vital to ensure that the vast majority ofpostal items are addressed in a way that can be processed automatically, without risk of misinterpretation.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 suppression of deliverypoints and changes in their specification such as renaming of streets, renumbering of properties, etc. Moreover,there is a growing tendency for companies to exchange or trade address data and, in the context of the EuropeanSingle Market, for companies in one country to hold address data of organisations and individuals in othercountries, which may use different approaches to the structuring of printed addresses.In this context, CEN/TC 331 Postal Services charged its Working Group 3 to develop a multi-part standard,covering the definition of address components and postal address structures, the electronic exchange andvalidation of address data and the representation of addresses on postal items. This standard, Components ofPostal Addresses, is the first in what is intended to become a series of standards and guidelines covering:— the definition of the logical components of postal addresses and ways in which postal addresses can beconstructed from these: Components of Postal Addresses;— the (country-dependent) way in which postal addresses should be printed on postal items: Physical Presentationof Address Components;— the procedures and syntax to be used for exchanging address data between computer systems: ElectronicExchange and Digital Representation of Postal Address data;— the (country-dependent) rules and procedures for checking the correctness of postal addresses: Validation ofPostal Address data;— the interpretation of printed addresses, and the extraction, from them, of postal address components:Extraction of Address Components from line-oriented Address Representations.This document comprises Part 1: Components of Postal Addresses. It should be possible to express anysyntactically correct postal address in accordance with the component definition specified herein. However, theconverse may not hold: that is, a set of components structured in accordance with the definition may notnecessarily be a syntactically correct postal address.
1)Terms in bold are defined either in section 3, or section 4, Postal Address Components.SIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)5This initial version2) of the standard is primarily concerned with those components, such as addresseespecification, thoroughfare or postcode, which may be part of a printed representation of an address (A.2).Furthermore, the definitions given are natural language ones, rather than being formal specifications (A.3).1 ScopeThis European Standard provides a dictionary of the possible components of postal addresses, together withexamples of and constraints on their use. It also defines a number of useful terms, such as delivery address,forwarding address, mailee and mail originator. It does not specify the length or value range of components.Nor, though it may indicate some cases in which a component may occur more than once, does it give a precisespecification of recurrence rules.NOTE 1
An individual postal address, or a class of postal addresses (such as the addresses used in a given country) mayrequire only a subset of the possible components. For example, Irish postal addresses do not include postcode; Dutchaddresses do not separate thoroughfare type from thoroughfare name.The standard is an enabling one: it serves to define components that are drawn on in other standards described inthe Introduction above. It is intended to be used together with the other parts of the standard.The standard defines three levels of postal address component:a) elements, such as organisation name or legal status, which correspond to the lowest level of componentwhich it may be useful (A.1) to distinguish in address representations;b) constructs, such as organisation identification, which group elements into units which are more meaningfulfor human interpretation;c) segments, such as addressee specification, which correspond to major logical portions of a postal address.By providing a standard dictionary of postal address components, this standard is expected to greatly facilitate theformal description of actual address representations and the definition of procedures for mapping between them.In practice, many address representations, whether in computer databases, in electronic messages or in printed orwritten form, may combine several of the postal address components defined herein into single fields or lines.NOTE 2
Practical databases (and even printed addresses) may also combine postal address components, as defined herein,with other relevant data. For example, a company’s customer database may include a customer reference or identificationnumber along with each customer’s address. Such additional data are not considered, for the purpose of this EuropeanStandard, as part of the address, but they must obviously be taken into account in the design of the database and of theapplications that use it.Considerable intelligence may be required in mapping between different representations, particularly where theseare subject to a degree of ambiguity.EXAMPLE: In the individual name John Smith, it is reasonably evident that Smith is the individual's surname and that John is agiven name. But James Joyce is rather more ambiguous: does this represent Mr Joyce, with given name James, or Ms James,with given name Joyce?This standard does not cover the topic of data protection. Users of the standard are nevertheless reminded that thestorage and exchange of personal data are subject to legislation in many countries. The standard may be appliedonly to the extent that this is compliant with such legislation.The present version of the standard applies to European postal addresses only.
2)The present specification is the first release of Part I of the standard.
It is expected that work on the development of Parts 2 to 5 mayresult in the need for changes to this specification. Annex A provides an informative list of aspects of the specification that may be particularlysubject to change.
Where relevant, the body of the standard refers to the points listed in annex A using superscripted cross-references.
Thusthe referenceb) refers to point number b) in the annex.SIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)6NOTE 2
Application of the standard to addresses of non-European countries is for further study. A number of groups areworking on the definition, printing and communication of addresses for other parts of the world. When the results of such workbecome available, it is intended that the standard should be reviewed to ensure world-wide compatibility.2 Normative referencesThis European Standard incorporates by dated or undated reference, provisions from other publications. Thesenormative references are cited at the appropriate places in the text, and the publications are listed hereafter. Fordated references, subsequent amendments to or revisions of any of these publications apply to this EuropeanStandard only when incorporated in it by amendment or revision. For undated references the latest edition of thepublication referred to applies (including amendments).EN ISO 3166-1, Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions - Part 1: Country codes(ISO 3166-1:1997).ENV 13712:2000, Postal services - Forms - Harmonised vocabulary.3 Terms and definitionsThis clause of this European Standard defines a number of general terms, definitions and concepts which areeither referred to in this Part (Part 1) of the standard, or are expected to be referred to in future parts. The clausedoes not include definitions of individual postal address components, which are separately defined in clause 4.For the purposes of this European Standard, the terms and definitions in ENV 13712 together with the followingadditions and exceptions (A.4) apply.3.1addresssee postal address3.2addresseenatural or legal person who is the intended ultimate recipient of a postal itemNOTE 1
The addressee may be explicitly defined as part of the postal address, or may be implicit. For example, in certaincountries, omission of addressee information may be taken as implying that delivery must be to an individual or legal entityhaving legal access to the delivery point.NOTE 2
The term “natural or legal person”, which is used in the above definition for consistency with other standards, shouldbe understood as including also groups of such persons and forms of organisation which have no legal personality. This appliesalso to its use in the definition of mailee, but not to the definitions of mail originator and mail submitter, since the legalresponsibility of these parties may be engaged in the event of breach of postal regulations.NOTE 3
An address may contain multiple addressee specifications. For example, Mr or Mrs Smith specifies that the addresseeis either one of two individuals, whilst Mr Jones and Mrs Smith denotes that the addressee is a group of two individuals. Seealso addressee role descriptor, 4.3.1.NOTE 4
The above definition differs from that in ENV 13712.NOTE 5
The use made by the postal operator of addressee and mailee data may be dependent on the postal serviceapplicable to the postal item. For certain services, such as registered mail, it may be an integral part of the postal operator'sresponsibility to ensure that the addressee, or a duly authorised representative, acknowledges receipt of the postal item. Inother cases, addressee data may be purely informative or used by the postal operator only for consistency checking and/or forthe activation of forwarding services. In still other cases, it may 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).3.3componentsee postal address componentSIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)73.4constructsee postal address construct3.5data identifieralphanumeric prefix to a data structure that defines the content, format and intended interpretation of the dataNOTE
Data identifiers are defined in accordance with ISO/IEC 15418.3.6deliverypostal process in which a postal item leaves the responsibility of the postal operator through being handed over to,or left for collection by, the addressee, the mailee or an authorised representative, or deposited in a private letter-box accessible to one or other of theseNOTE
Except in the case of special services, for which the addressee or mailee is required to acknowledge receipt, deliverydoes not necessarily guarantee that the postal item actually reaches the addressee or mailee. In particular, where postal itemsare left for collection or deposited in a private letterbox, other persons may have access to them, either legally or otherwise.3.7delivery addresspostal address specified by the mailer to which the postal operator is requested to deliver the postal itemNOTE 1
The delivery address may in certain circumstances – e.g. un-addressed mail – not actually be represented on thepostal item. In this case, the delivery address is determined by the postal operator in accordance with an agreement betweenthe operator and the mailer.NOTE 2
The postal item may not actually be delivered to the requested delivery address. For example, in the case offorwarding, delivery takes place at the forwarding address.3.8delivery pointphysical location recognised by a postal operator as a valid location at which delivery of a postal item may occur3.9elementsee postal address element3.10forwarding addresspostal address, specified by the addressee or mailee of a postal item, to which the postal operator is requestedto deliver the postal item, in place of delivering it to the delivery addressNOTE 1
Not all postal items can be forwarded, as for some postal services the mailer may require the return of the postal itemif it cannot be delivered at the delivery address.NOTE 2
Forwarding addresses may be permanent, e.g. in case of relocation of the addressee, or temporary. They may alsoinvolve the holding of mail for collection by the addressee or the mailee (see poste restante).3.11mail originatornatural or legal person responsible for originating the content of a postal itemNOTE
The mail originator can be thought of as the initiator of the postal item. Mail production, finishing, submission andpayment processes may be performed by the mail originator, but may equally be performed by other parties. In particular, themail originator:¾ does not necessarily determine the delivery address (e.g. un-addressed mail, or mail which is addressed by amail-house);SIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)8¾ does not necessarily produce (print, fold, insert into envelopes, etc.) the mail;¾ may be distinct from the mail submitter;¾ may not pay for the (complete) service (Freepost, Business Reply, COD, under franking, etc.);¾ may be distinct from the person or legal entity to which the postal item must be returned in case of non-delivery.cf mailer3.12mail recipientindividual who actually receives a postal item at delivery, or who first accesses the postal item if it is left forcollectionNOTE
The mail recipient should normally be the addressee, the mailee or an authorised representative of one of these two.However, this may not always be the case, e.g. if the postal item is left for collection in a location to which third parties haveaccess; if the addressee/mailee have moved without leaving forwarding instructions, or if the addressee or mailee specificationwas ambiguous and was, as a result, misinterpreted by the postal operator.3.13mail submitternatural or legal person responsible for induction of a postal item into the postal systemNOTE
The mail submitter may be, but is not necessarily, the same party as the mail originator.3.14maileenatural or legal person designated in a postal address as having responsibility for ensuring that postal items,delivered or handed over by the postal operator at the delivery address, reach their addresseeNOTE 1
Unlike the addressee, mailee is never implicit: if a postal address does not contain a mailee specification, then thereis no mailee.NOTE 2
As is the case for addressee, the mailee specification may be ambiguous.NOTE 3
The term “natural or legal person”, which is used in the above definition for consistency with other standards, shouldbe understood as including also forms of organisation which have no legal personality. This applies also to its use in thedefinition of addressee, but not to the definitions of mail originator and mail submitter, since the legal responsibility of theseparties may be engaged in the event of breach of postal regulations.3.15mailernatural or legal person who carries out one or more of the processes involved in creating, producing, finishing,inducting and paying the postage due for a postal itemNOTE 1
Many processes are involved in the production and mailing of postal items. These include:¾ initiation;¾ content production, which may be separated into parts produced by several different parties (e.g. inserts maybe produced separately from covering letters);¾ finishing, including assembly of the content and its packaging (e.g. placing in an envelope, or wrapping) formailing purposes;¾ addressing;¾ induction into the postal system;¾ payment.These processes may be performed by one party, or may be split between different parties, each fulfilling a particular role orcombination of roles. Where it is necessary to distinguish between such roles, they are referred to by separate terms, inparticular mail originator, mail submitter and payer; where such distinction is not necessary, mailer is used as a generic term.SIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)9NOTE 2: The term “natural or legal person”, which is used in the above definition for consistency with other standards, shouldbe understood as including also forms of organisation which have no legal personality.3.16payernatural or legal person responsible for payment, to the postal operator, of the postage due in respect of a postalitemNOTE 1
This term is not used in the present document, but is included for consistency with other specifications relating to theinterface between mailers and postal operators.3.17postal addressset of information which, for a postal item, allows the unambiguous determination of an actual or potential deliverypoint, usually combined with the specification of an addressee and/or a maileecf delivery address, forwarding address, return address.NOTE 1
The components of postal addresses are defined in 4.NOTE 2
The above definition differs from that in ENV 13712.NOTE 3
Postal addresses may be ambiguous, incorrect or non-existing. See also syntactically correct postal address, validpostal address.3.18postal address componentcollective term for postal address elements, postal address constructs and postal address segments, asdefined in this standardNOTE
Clause 4 of this standard defines the postal address components which may occur in an actual postal address. It shouldbe noted that not all components are necessarily used in a specific instance or class of postal addresses.3.19postal address constructcombination of postal address elements which together form a logical portion of a postal addressNOTE 1
Constructs may be defined hierarchically. That is, a construct may comprise a logical grouping of postal addresselements; a logical grouping of lower level constructs or a combination of elements and lower level constructs.NOTE 2
4.2 of this standard defines the constructs which may occur in a postal address. It should be noted that not allconstructs are necessarily used in a specific instance or class of postal addresses.cf postal address component, postal address segment3.20postal address elementbasic entity of a postal address that has a well defined meaning and representation, has significance for customeror postal processing purposes and cannot usefully be divided into smaller units for exchange or printing purposesNOTE 1
A given name is an example of a postal address element, but the individual characters of which it is comprised arenot. On the other hand, compound surnames are treated as postal address constructs, rather than as elements, becausethey need to be divided into lower level components – surname prefix and surname.NOTE 2
4.3 of this standard defines the elements which may occur in a postal address. It should be noted that not all elementsare necessarily used in a specific instance or class of postal addresses.cf postal address component, postal address segmentSIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)103.21postal address segmentnamed group of related postal address constructs and / or postal address elementsNOTE
4.1 defines the postal address segments.cf postal address component3.22postal address structuremanner in which postal address components are or can be combined to form a postal addressNOTE
Postal address structures may differ from country to country, from region to region or even from operator to operatorwithin a country.cf syntactically correct postal address, valid postal address3.23poste restantedelivery service indicator specifying that a postal item is to be held, at a designated postal establishment oragency, for collection by the addressee or his/her authorised representativeNOTE
The above definition differs from that in ENV 13712.3.24recipientsee mail recipient3.25return addresspostal address which, for a postal item, specifies the delivery point, and, where relevant, the addressee and/ormailee, to which the postal item is to be delivered in case the postal operator is unable to effect normal deliveryNOTE 1
The interpretation of “normal delivery” may be dependent on the service characteristics for the postal serviceappropriate to the individual postal item.NOTE 2
The return address is usually (but not always) the postal address of the mail originator or the mail submitter. It neednot necessarily be explicitly represented on the postal item - for example, it may be derived from a company logo or from afranking mark, or it may only be apparent when the postal item is opened (normally in a special location designated for theprocessing of non-deliverable postal items). It may also be impossible to determine the return address, in which case the non-delivered postal item concerned must be handled according to national regulations (e.g. be destroyed).3.26segmentsee postal address segmentSIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)113.27syntactically correct postal addresspostal address in which the combination of postal address components is fully in accord with this standard andwith relevant national or regional rules which define restrictions on allowed combinations and internal structures ofsuch componentsEXAMPLE:MrJohnSmith4395StationRoadPorchesterFAREHAMPO16 8BQUNITED KINGDOMforms a syntactically correct United Kingdom postal address, but if the country were France, it would not be syntacticallycorrect, because France uses only numeric postcodes.NOTE
Syntactic correctness does not imply validity. The above is not a valid postal address because the delivery pointidentified within it does not exist.3.28valid postal addresspostal address in which the combination of postal address components corresponds to, and provides forunambiguous identification of, a single delivery point and of an addressee and/or maileeNOTE 1
Valid postal addresses are not necessarily syntactically correct. For example:The Secretary GeneralCEN36rue deStassartBruxellesBELGIUMis not a syntactically correct postal address, because postcode is missing, but it is valid since there is only one rue deStassart in Brussels (so it is unambiguous).NOTE 2
The addressee and / or mailee specification may be implicit, as in the case in which the postal item is intended forthe person(s) having legal access to the delivery point.SIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)124 Postal Address ComponentsThis clause of the standard defines the decomposition of a postal address specification into segments, constructsand elements. Definitions of more general terms and concepts are given in clause 3.Figure 1 — Postal Address Components - Segments, Constructs and ElementsSIST EN 14142-1:2004



EN 14142-1:2003 (E)13Figure 2 — Postal Address Components - Segments, Constructs and ElementsA postal address specification comprises one to four segments:a) an addressee specification (optional);b) a mailee specification (optional);c) recipient dispatching information (optional);d) a delivery point specification (mandatory).Each of these is described in 4.1. Segments are built up from postal address constructs and elements, which aredescribed in 4.2 and 4.3 respectively. The figures below and on the following pages provide a diagrammaticrepresentation.NOTE
The diagrams show how elements are combined to form components and segments of addresses. They should not beinterpreted as implying the existence or otherwise of constraints on which combinations of elements a
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