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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>A quick question for you all, since the baseline requirements are unclear here.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>For those unfamiliar with addresses for US foreign military bases and diplomatic posts, they look something like this:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Somepersonplaceorthing XXX<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Miltary unit / box / whatever<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>APO AE 12345<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>See also: <a href="https://faq.usps.com/s/article/How-Do-I-Address-Military-Mail">https://faq.usps.com/s/article/How-Do-I-Address-Military-Mail</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>These locations intentionally do not use foreign city / state codes to avoid having their mail routed through foreign mail <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>systems, and in some cases because the location is US soil and/or not subject to foreign jurisdiction anyway. These locations<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>even have US zipcodes assigned. For example, 962xx is actually in Korea, and is associated with the two letter postal<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>code AP. For example, the US embassy in Seoul has the following US mailing address:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>US Embassy Seoul<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Unit #9600<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>DPO AP 96209<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The question is what is the best practice for converting such an address to C=, L=, ST= format. Options include:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><ol style='margin-top:0in' start=1 type=1><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>C=US, L=APO AP, ST=(none) [ST can be omitted if L is present]<o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>C=US, L=APO, ST=AP [using official postal code as ST]<o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>other?<o:p></o:p></li></ol><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I think it’s pretty clear that (1) complies with the BRs. The question is whether (2) does. The ST field is defined as<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“state or province information”, but we know from previous discussions that it is not strictly limited to things named<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“states” or “provinces”, as it can also include functionally similar political subdivisions like Swiss cantons. The question<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>is whether having a US postal code and official two letter postal abbreviation means that AP, AE, and AA are legal<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>values of the ST field.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Of course, this question would be easy to answer if my suggestion to use ISO 3166-2 as the official list of valid ST fields<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>had been adopted, but unfortunately there didn’t seem to be much support for it.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Curious to hear what others think.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>-Tim<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>