The identification of a particular location is a continuous requirement in international trade and transport to direct the movement of goods, e.g. in addresses, in shipping marks, in identifying ports, airports, rail and
road terminals, places of clearance by Customs, etc.

Names of locations are frequently spelled in different ways in different languages (e.g. LONDON - LONDRES - LONDRA; WARZSAW - VARSOVIE - WARSZAWA - WARSCHAU). Sometimes the same location is given different names (e.g. Bombay and Mumbai), which creates confusion and difficulties. A unique and unambiguous way of indentifying any place involved in international trade is basic to facilitating trade procedures and documentation. This can be achieved by using agreed, unique coded designations for such locations.

UN/LOCODE is a geographic coding scheme developed and maintained by the UN Economic Commission for Europe. Each code consists of two letters identifying the country, according to the ISO two-letter code for the representation of country names, and three characters identifying the location within the country. Thus Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is NLAMS. Examples of UN/LOCODE codes for Pakistan are:

The complete UN/LOCODE code set, containing some 40,000 entries, together with the the full text of the Recommendation of the UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business “Codes for Trade
and Transport Locations” (No. 16) is available on the internet at:
http://www.unetrades.net.

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