DIN EN 14142-1:2011-11

This standard provides a dictionary of the possible components of postal addresses, together with examples of and constraints on their use.The standard defines three hierarchical levels of postal address component:segments, such as addressee specification, which correspond to major logical portions of a postal address.constructs, such as organisation identification, which group elements within segments into units which are meaningful for human interpretation;elements, such as organisation name or legal status, which correspond to the lowest level of constructs, i.e., those which are not themselves made up of subordinate elements, though they may be sub-divided for technical purposesTo cover multiple occurrences and locations of elements in an address, and to be able where necessary to work with sub-divisions of element content, the standard defines a fourth level:element sub-types, such as door type or door indicator, representing parts of conceptual elements, such as door, for database storage or to facilitate presentation, or representing multiple instances of conceptual elements for use in defining address element structures or templatesNOTE The underlying point is that elements are conceptual whereas sub-types are defined to meet technical needs such as template construction, rendition requirements, accurate representation of address instances, and matching to postal database fieldsThe standard further provides a methodology for the specification of postal address templates, which stipulate how a postal address is to be written, including the order in which postal address elements are to appear, required and optional elements, and the presentation or rendition of the elements, subject to constraints on the space available for that task. Languages suitable for human comprehension and computer processing of postal address templates are defined and described.