5F55
Issuer Country Code (alpha2)Issuer Country Code (alpha2) carries the same underlying fact as the numeric Issuer Country Code (5F28, covered earlier) - which country issued this application - but as a two-letter ISO 3166 code instead of the numeric one, existing specifically for systems and display contexts that expect the alphabetic form rather than the numeric one. It's related to both 5F28 and to its own three-letter sibling, Issuer Country Code (alpha3) (5F56, covered alongside it here), giving EMV three parallel encodings of the identical fact - numeric, two-letter, and three-letter - because different downstream consumers, banking systems, display libraries, reporting tools, each conventionally expect one form or another. Because all three encode the same underlying country, a card populating more than one of them should have them agree; a discrepancy between 5F28, 5F55, and 5F56 on the same card is the same category of internal data-consistency red flag already discussed for other same-fact, multiple-encoding pairs in this dictionary, like the PAN's various cross-checked appearances. See EMV 4.4 Book 3.
Interactive decoder
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Text (ASCII): BR
This tag is not a bitmap; the decoder shows a format-based interpretation.
Decoded example
Example value: 4252
Properties
| Tag | 5F55 |
|---|---|
| Name | Issuer Country Code (alpha2) |
| Format | Alphabetic |
| Length | 2 bytes |
| Source | Card (ICC) |
| Templates | BF0C |
| Books | EMV 4.4 Book 3 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is EMV tag 5F55?
- Issuer Country Code (alpha2) carries the same underlying fact as the numeric Issuer Country Code (5F28, covered earlier) - which country issued this application - but as a two-letter ISO 3166 code instead of the numeric one, existing specifically for systems and display contexts that expect the alphabetic form rather than the numeric one. It's related to both 5F28 and to its own three-letter sibling, Issuer Country Code (alpha3) (5F56, covered alongside it here), giving EMV three parallel encodings of the identical fact - numeric, two-letter, and three-letter - because different downstream consumers, banking systems, display libraries, reporting tools, each conventionally expect one form or another. Because all three encode the same underlying country, a card populating more than one of them should have them agree; a discrepancy between 5F28, 5F55, and 5F56 on the same card is the same category of internal data-consistency red flag already discussed for other same-fact, multiple-encoding pairs in this dictionary, like the PAN's various cross-checked appearances. See EMV 4.4 Book 3.
- What format and length does EMV tag 5F55 use?
- Tag 5F55 uses the Alphabetic format and is normally 2 bytes long.
- Is tag 5F55 provided by the card or the terminal?
- Tag 5F55 (Issuer Country Code (alpha2)) is provided by the Card (ICC).
Sources
- EMV_v4.4_Book_3_Application_Specification, p. 149
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