Each code consists of two parts, separated by a hyphen. The first part is FR, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of France. The second part is either of the following:
one digit followed by two letters: European collectivity
two digits: metropolitan departments
two digits followed by a letter: metropolitan collectivities with special status
two letters: overseas collectivities, overseas collectivity with special status, overseas territory (matching their ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes)
three letters: metropolitan regions
three digits: overseas departmental collectivities, overseas unique territorial collectivities
01–89 except 20: departments created before the 20th century, assigned in alphabetical order (prefixes in the form of "Bas-" and "Haute-" are ignored at the primary sort level), except Paris and Yvelines, which replaced the former departments Seine and Seine-et-Oise respectively after the reorganization of the Paris region in 1968;
^The FR-69 code in ISO 316-2 still covers the department of Rhône as it was before 1 January 2015 when it was split in two parts, one of which is no longer a department but a métropole with specific status. Still, the Métropole de Lyon and the new department of Rhône are administratively managed by the French state as a single circonscription départementale (departmental constituency) that keeps the old department code. Where distinction is needed, INSEE uses 69 to cover the new circonscription départementale du Rhône for the state-controlled administration in its préfecture (covering the whole former département du Rhône before January 2015), and assigned new codes for the two separate local collectivities: 69D for the new (smaller) département du Rhône, and 69M for the new Métropole de Lyon.
^ abcdFor reference only, English name not included in the ISO 3166-2 standard.
Subdivisions included in ISO 3166-1
Besides being included as subdivisions of France in ISO 3166-2, several subdivisions are also officially assigned their own country codes in ISO 3166-1.
Metropolitan France (the part of France located in Europe) was previously officially assigned its own set of country codes in ISO 3166-1, with alpha-2 code FX, before it was deleted from ISO 3166-1. The code is now exceptionally reserved on the request of France.
Explanatory note
^ abThe overseas territorial collectivy of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Terres australes et antarctiques françaises in French) is also administratively covering (as one of its districts) the Adélie Land claimed by France in the Antarctic, but it is also part of the Antarctic and normally not covered by the ISO 3166-1 TF code or ISO 3166-2 FR-TF code, but by the ISO 3166-1 AQ code. The French Southern Lands (Terres australes françaises in French) are referring to only 3 of the 5 districts in the overseas territorial collectivity, excluding the claimed district in the Antarctic and the district of Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean (Îles Éparses de l'Océan Indien). Some applications used by other countries than France or international organizations may or may not include the two contested districts, but most of them include the Scattered Islands, including the ISO 3166 standard itself.
Changes
The following changes to the entry have been announced by the ISO 3166/MA since the first publication of ISO 3166-2 in 1998. ISO stopped issuing newsletters in 2013.
Change of the delimitation of the regions, reducing their number from 22 to 13 in metropolitan France, change of parent subdivision of metropolitan departments; addition of overseas regions FR-GUA, FR-LRE, FR-MAY; change of subdivision category from overseas department to overseas territorial collectivity for FR-GR, FR-MQ; update List Source.
Addition of category name "collectivity" in eng/fra; Change of category name from metropolitan region to collectivity for FR-COR; Update List Source
Category change: FR-COR metropolitan region → collectivity
2020-11-24
Change of category name from collectivity to metropolitan collectivity with special status for FR-COR; Change of category name from overseas department to overseas region for FR-GP, FR-RE, FR-YT; Deletion of parent subdivision of FR-GP, FR-RE, FR-YT; Change of category name from overseas region to overseas department for FR-GUA, FR-LRE, FR-MAY; Change of subdivision code from FR-COR to FR-20R, FR-GUA to FR-971, FR-LRE to FR-974, FR-MAY to FR-976; Assign parent subdivision to FR-971, FR-974, FR-976; Change of parent subdivision of FR-972, FR-973; Change of category name from overseas territorial collectivity to overseas collectivity for FR-BL, FR-MF, FR-PF, FR-PM, FR-WF; Addition of category overseas territory with specific status, overseas territory; Change of category name from overseas territorial collectivity to overseas collectivity with special status for FR-NC; Change of category name from overseas territorial collectivity to overseas territory for FR-TF; Update List Source and Code Source
Category changes: FR-COR collectivity → metropolitan collectivity with special status FR-GP overseas department → overseas region FR-RE overseas department → overseas region FR-YT overseas department → overseas region FR-GUA overseas region → overseas department FR-LRE overseas region → overseas department FR-MAY overseas region → overseas department FR-BL overseas territorial collectivity → overseas collectivity FR-MF overseas territorial collectivity → overseas collectivity FR-PF overseas territorial collectivity → overseas collectivity FR-PM overseas territorial collectivity → overseas collectivity FR-WF overseas territorial collectivity → overseas collectivity FR-NC overseas territorial collectivity → overseas collectivity with special status FR-TF overseas territorial collectivity → overseas territory Code changes: FR-COR → FR-20R FR-GUA → FR-971 FR-LRE → FR-974 FR-MAY → FR-976 Subdivisions added: FR-972Martinique (parent FR-MQ) FR-973Guyane (française) (parent FR-GF)
2021-11-25
Addition of category European collectivity in eng & fra; Addition of European collectivity FR-6AE; Addition of metropolitan collectivity with special status FR-69M; Change of category name from metropolitan department to metropolitan collectivity with special status for FR-75; Change of subdivision code from FR-75 to FR-75C; Addition of category overseas departmental collectivity in English & French; Change of category name from overseas department to overseas departmental collectivity for FR-971, FR-974, FR-976; Addition of category overseas unique territorial collectivity in eng & fra; Change of category name from overseas department to overseas unique territorial collectivity for FR-972, FR-973; Deletion of category name overseas department; Deletion of overseas region FR-GF, FR-GP, FR-MQ, FR-RE, FR-YT; Deletion of category name overseas region; Change of parent subdivision of FR-67, FR-68; Deletion of parent subdivision of FR-971, FR-972, FR-973, FR-974, FR-976; Modification of Remark part 2; Update List Source and Code Source
Codes added: FR-6AE Alsace FR-69M Métropole de Lyon Codes changed: FR-75 Paris (metropolitan department) → FR-75C Paris (metropolitan collectivity with special status) Codes removed: FR-GF Guyane (française) FR-GP Guadeloupe FR-MQ Martinique FR-RE La Réunion FR-YT Mayotte Category changes: FR-971 overseas department → overseas departmental collectivity FR-972 overseas department → overseas unique territorial collectivity FR-973 overseas department → overseas unique territorial collectivity FR-974 overseas department → overseas departmental collectivity FR-976 overseas department → overseas departmental collectivity Parent changes: FR-67FR-GES → FR-6AE FR-68FR-GES → FR-6AE
Former metropolitan regions (before 31 December 2015)