[art] Re: [SPICE] Re: Re: [Last-Call] Re: Re: Re: draft-ietf-spice-glue-id-04 ietf last call Artart review

[Rohan Mahy <[e-mail]>]

FYI: I asked AI to provide a summary table of national business identifiers
with references, and there is a Wikipedia entry
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_official_business_registers>. Among
the 61 countries in the list, all use ASCII letters, numerals, and dot,
dash, slash, or space (oh, Canada) as separators. Sub-Saharan Africa is
poorly represented with only Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa (all
with English as official language) represented. I would be especially
interested in data about identifiers for more countries that use the Arabic
script, and more countries with rare script systems:

Ethiopia - Amharic
Mongolia - Mongolian
Myanmar - Burmese
Cambodia - Khmer
Laos - Lao
Iran - Arabic modified for Persian
Armenia - Armenian
Georgia - Georgian

Thanks,
-rohan


BEGIN AI SUMMARY
=====

Below is a compact reference that gives one typical *business
identifier* (e.g.,
registration number, tax‑ID, or company‑number) for many countries together
with a link to the official register or agency that issues it. The full,
up‑to‑date list of every national business register can be found on the
Wikipedia “List of official business registers” page.
Country Typical identifier (example) Issuing agency / Register (link)
Afghanistan *Trade License No.* (e.g., TL‑123456) Ministry of Commerce &
Industries – https://moci.gov.af
Albania *NIPT* (National Identification Number of Taxpayer)
(e.g., 123456789) National Tax Administration – https://www.tatime.gov.al
Algeria *RC* (Registre du Commerce) (e.g., 15/00123/2022) Centre National
du Registre du Commerce – https://www.cnrc.dz
Argentina *CUIT* (Clave Única de Identificación Tributaria)
(e.g., 30‑12345678‑9) AFIP – https://www.afip.gob.ar
Australia *ABN* (Australian Business Number) (e.g., 51 824 753 556) Australian
Business Register – https://abr.business.gov.au
Austria *Firmenbuchnummer* (e.g., FN 123456a) Federal Ministry of Justice –
https://www.justiz.gv.at
Bangladesh *BIN* (Business Identification Number) (e.g., 123456) Registrar
of Joint Stock Companies – https://www.rajshahi.gov.bd
Belgium *BTW/TVA number* (e.g., BE 0123.456.789) Crossroads Bank for
Enterprises – https://kbopub.economie.fgov.be
Brazil *CNPJ* (Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica)
(e.g., 12.345.678/0001‑90) Receita Federal –
https://www.gov.br/receitafederal
Canada *BN* (Business Number) (e.g., 12345 6789 RT0001) Canada Revenue
Agency – https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency.html
Chile *RUT* (Rol Único Tributario) (e.g., 76.123.456‑7) Servicio de
Impuestos Internos – https://www.sii.cl
China *USCI* (Unified Social Credit Identifier) (e.g.,
91310000710901856U) State
Administration for Market Regulation – http://www.samr.gov.cn
Colombia *NIT* (Número de Identificación Tributaria) (e.g., 900.123.456‑7) DIAN
– https://www.dian.gov.co
Croatia *OIB* (Osobni identifikacijski broj) (e.g., 12345678901) Ministry
of Finance – https://www.porezna-uprava.hr
Czech Republic *IČO* (Identifikační číslo organizace) (e.g., 12345678) Ministry
of Justice – https://or.justice.cz
Denmark *CVR‑nummer* (e.g., 12345678) Danish Business Authority –
https://datacvr.virk.dk
Egypt *CR* (Commercial Registration) (e.g., 12345/2022) General Authority
for Investment – https://www.gafi.gov.eg
Estonia *KMKR number* (Tax ID) (e.g., 12345678) Estonian Tax and Customs
Board – https://www.emta.ee
Finland *Y‑tunnus* (Business ID) (e.g., 1234567‑8) Finnish Patent and
Registration Office – https://www.prh.fi
France *SIREN* (e.g., 123 456 789) INSEE – https://www.insee.fr
Germany *Handelsregisternummer* (HRB 12345) Handelsregister –
https://www.handelsregister.de
Ghana *TIN* (Tax Identification Number) (e.g., 1234567890) Ghana Revenue
Authority – https://gra.gov.gh
Greece *ΑΦΜ* (AFM – Tax ID) (e.g., 123456789) Independent Authority for
Public Revenue – https://www.aade.gr
Hong Kong *CR No.* (Company Registration Number) (e.g., 1234567) Companies
Registry – https://www.cr.gov.hk
Hungary *Cégjegyzékszám* (e.g., 01‑09‑123456) Court of Registration –
https://www.cegjegyzek.hu
Iceland *Kennitala* (e.g., 123456‑7890) Directorate of Internal Revenue –
https://www.rsk.is
India *PAN* (Permanent Account Number) (e.g., ABCDE1234F) Income Tax
Department – https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in
Indonesia *NPWP* (Nomor Pokok Wajib Pajak) (e.g.,
01.234.567.8‑901.000) Directorate
General of Taxes – https://www.pajak.go.id
Ireland *CRO number* (e.g., 123456) Companies Registration Office –
https://www.cro.ie
Israel *ח.פ.* (Hefetz Patur – Company Registration No.) (e.g.,
514123456) Israeli
Registrar of Companies – https://www.gov.il
Italy *Codice Fiscale* (for companies, “Partita IVA”) (e.g.,
12345678901) Agenzia
delle Entrate – https://www.agenziaentrate.gov.it
Japan *法人番号* (Corporate Number) (e.g., 1234‑5678‑9012) National Tax Agency
– https://www.nta.go.jp
Kenya *PIN* (Personal Identification Number) (e.g., A123456789B) Kenya
Revenue Authority – https://www.kra.go.ke
Latvia *Reģistrācijas numurs* (e.g., 40003012345) Enterprise Register –
https://www.ur.gov.lv
Lithuania *Įmonės kodas* (e.g., 302123456) Centre of Registers –
https://www.registrucentras.lt
Malaysia *ROC No.* (e.g., 123456‑A) Companies Commission of Malaysia –
https://www.ssm.com.my
Mexico *RFC* (Registro Federal de Contribuyentes) (e.g., AAA010101AAA) SAT
– https://www.sat.gob.mx
Netherlands *KvK‑nummer* (e.g., 12345678) Kamer van Koophandel –
https://www.kvk.nl
New Zealand *NZBN* (New Zealand Business Number) (e.g., 9429041234567)
New Zealand
Companies Office – https://www.companiesoffice.govt.nz
Nigeria *RC Number* (e.g., RC 1234567) Corporate Affairs Commission –
https://www.cac.gov.ng
Norway *Org.nr.* (Organisasjonsnummer) (e.g., 987654321) Brønnøysund
Register Centre – https://www.brreg.no
Pakistan *NTN* (National Tax Number) (e.g., 1234567‑8) Federal Board of
Revenue – https://www.fbr.gov.pk
Philippines *TIN* (Tax Identification Number) (e.g., 123‑456‑789) Bureau of
Internal Revenue – https://www.bir.gov.ph
Poland *KRS* (National Court Register) (e.g., 0000123456) Ministry of
Justice – https://ekrs.ms.gov.pl
Portugal *NIPC* (Número de Identificação de Pessoa Colectiva)
(e.g., 509 123 456) Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado –
https://www.irn.mj.pt
Romania *CUI* (Cod Unic de Înregistrare) (e.g., RO12345678) National Trade
Register Office – https://www.onrc.ro
Russia *ОГРН* (Primary State Registration Number) (e.g., 1027700132195) Federal
Tax Service – https://egrul.nalog.ru
Saudi Arabia *CR* (Commercial Registration) (e.g., 1012345678) Ministry of
Commerce – https://mci.gov.sa
Singapore *UEN* (Unique Entity Number) (e.g., 201912345Z) Accounting and
Corporate Regulatory Authority – https://www.acra.gov.sg
South Africa *CIPC number* (e.g., 2009/123456/07) Companies and
Intellectual Property Commission – https://www.cipc.co.za
South Korea *사업자등록번호* (Business Registration Number) (e.g.,
123‑45‑67890) National
Tax Service – https://www.nts.go.kr
Spain *NIF* (Número de Identificación Fiscal) (e.g., B12345678) Agencia
Tributaria – https://www.agenciatributaria.es
Sweden *Organisationsnummer* (e.g., 556123‑4567) Swedish Companies
Registration Office – https://www.bolagsverket.se
Switzerland *UID* (Unternehmens-Identifikationsnummer)
(e.g., CHE‑123.456.789) Swiss Federal Statistical Office –
https://www.bfs.admin.ch
Taiwan *統一編號* (Uniform Business Number) (e.g., 12345678) Ministry of
Economic Affairs – https://gcis.nat.gov.tw
Thailand *เลขประจำตัวผู้เสียภาษี* (Tax ID) (e.g., 0123456789012) Revenue
Department – https://www.rd.go.th
Turkey *Vergi Kimlik No* (Tax Identification Number) (e.g., 1234567890) Turkish
Revenue Administration – https://www.gib.gov.tr
United Kingdom *Company No.* (e.g., 12345678) Companies House –
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house
United States *EIN* (Employer Identification Number) (e.g.,
12‑3456789) Internal
Revenue Service – https://www.irs.gov
Uruguay *RUT* (Registro Único Tributario) (e.g., 12345678‑9) Dirección
General Impositiva – https://www.dgi.gub.uy
Vietnam *MST* (Mã số thuế) (e.g., 0101234567) General Department of
Taxation – https://www.gdt.gov.vn





On Sat, Feb 14, 2026 at 8:12 AM Michael Jones <[e-mail]>
wrote:

> I would not allow % encoding or any other kind of encoding because that
> requires canonicalization to perform comparison. These are identifiers for
> machines to use - not people. There's no reason to allow anything other
> than printable ASCII characters in identifiers for programmatic use.
>
> Keep simple things simple.
>
>                                 -- Mike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rohan Mahy <[e-mail]>
> Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2026 8:10 AM
> To: Orie <[e-mail]>
> Cc: Arnt Gulbrandsen <[e-mail]>; John C Klensin <
> [e-mail]>; Patrik Fältström <[e-mail]>; Tim Bray <
> [e-mail]>; Brent Zundel <brent.zundel=
> [e-mail]>; [e-mail];
> [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: [SPICE] Re: [art] Re: [Last-Call] Re: Re: Re:
> draft-ietf-spice-glue-id-04 ietf last call Artart review
>
> I think there are three questions that follow from this discussion:
> - do we want national/regional identifier systems to be registered? For
> example, the example of the US tax ID number was brought up as an example
> when the draft was introduced to the WG. The draft already mentions a
> hypothetical system that has different registrations in Singapore and Korea
> as two separate Authority Identifiers, so I'd say the document implies they
> should be allowed.
> - do we want to allow or encourage internationalized domain names for the
> names of any non-ASCII Authority Identifiers? If so, punycode is a logical
> way to represent them.
> - is it the responsibility of the GLUE spec to define how non-ASCII
> characters (if any) are represented in the rest of the URN (after the
> Authority Identifier and colon), or should that be left to the individual
> registrations?
>
> thanks,
> -rohan
>
> On Fri, 13 Feb 2026, 14:50 Orie, <[e-mail]> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > It's great to see so many comments on this draft : )
> >
> > I am wondering if anyone is aware of any global business or legal
> > entity identifier systems which are not based on US ASCII ?
> >
> > I don't think the IETF should specify a business identifier system
> > that supports more than US ASCII without a compelling example of one in
> the wild.
> >
> > I had gemini do a little research and the only one that showed up was
> > our old friend IDNs : )
> >
> > BEGIN RESPONSE FROM GEMINI
> >
> > There are currently no major *global* business identifier standards
> > where the **identifier code itself** uses non-Latin (non-ASCII)
> characters.
> >
> > If a business in Tokyo, Cairo, or Beijing gets a global identifier,
> > that code will almost certainly consist of **Latin letters (A-Z)** and
> > **Arabic numerals (0-9)**.
> >
> > The reason is **interoperability**. Global financial infrastructure
> > (like SWIFT networks, customs databases, and stock exchanges) relies
> > on legacy systems that cannot reliably process characters like "Д",
> > "Φ", or "中" in the identifier field without risking data corruption or
> transaction failure.
> >
> > However, there is a major distinction between the **Identifier Code**
> > (the
> > tag) and the **Entity Data** (the content).
> >
> > ### 1. The Code vs. The Data
> >
> > While the ID *code* is almost always ASCII, the *records* attached to
> > that ID increasingly support local scripts.
> >
> > | Identifier | The Code (ASCII/Latin) | The Data Record (Unicode) |
> > | --- | --- | --- |
> > | **LEI** (Legal Entity Identifier) | `5493000IBP32UCZ95H59` | Can
> > | store
> > the company name as **腾讯** (Tencent) or **БАНК** (Bank). |
> > | **SWIFT / BIC** | `KOEXKRSE` | The bank's name and address can be
> > | stored
> > in local character sets in modern registries. |
> > | **USCC** (China) | `91110000710925462X` | Even China's national
> > | standard
> > uses Latin letters and numbers for the code itself to ensure it works
> > with Western software. |
> >
> > ### 2. The "Language-Neutral" Approach (Numeric IDs)
> >
> > To avoid the bias of the Latin alphabet, many global standards rely
> > strictly on **numbers**. While these are technically "ASCII digits"
> > (0-9) in computer systems, they are considered culturally neutral
> > because they don't require knowledge of the English alphabet to
> transcribe.
> >
> > * **DUNS Number:** A unique 9-digit code (e.g., `12-345-6789`). It
> > contains no letters, making it usable by anyone who reads Arabic numerals
>