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DCC integrations use three ISO 3166-1 country code formats: two-letter alphabetic codes in merchant boarding, three-letter alphabetic codes in the TCOM file, and numeric codes in transaction files. Numeric codes use a three-character representation. Preserve leading zeroes, such as 004, and handle the values as strings rather than integers.

Where country codes are used

Alpha-2 codes (two letters)

Merchant boarding formats use alpha-2 codes in the merchant address field.

Alpha-3 codes (three letters)

Use an alpha-3 code in the TCOM file to identify the country where the card was issued.

Numeric codes (three characters)

Transaction file formats use numeric codes for the cardholder’s country of permanent residence and the terminal country.
The country of residence field is part of the optional MCP subrecord. When the cardholder’s country of residence is unknown, fill positions 27–29 with 000. This is an unknown-value fill, not an assigned country code.

Country code reference

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