postmail addresses
wolf paul
(wants a description of addresses in European countries)
Here is my attempt at describing Austrian addresses and phone numbers.
I hope some will find it of interest.
<> are standard variable items
[] are optional variable items
"" are literal items
Mail to individual persons:
<Anrede>
[Titel] <Vorname> <Familienname>
[Firma]
<Strasse> <Nummer>
"A-"<PLZ> <Postort>
"Austria"
Mail to companies or organizations:
"Firma"
<Firma>
[Abteilung]
["z. Hd." <Anrede> [Titel] <Vorname> <Familienname>]
<Strasse> <Nummer>
"A-"<PLZ> <Postort>
"Austria"
Mail to Government Agencies or Authorities:
"An [den|die|das]"
<Beh\"orde>
[Abteilung]
["z. Hd." <Anrede> [Titel] <Vorname> <Familienname>]
<Strasse> <Nummer>
"A-"<PLZ> <Postort>
"Austria"
Explanation of components:
Anrede:
Herrn|Frau|Fr\:aulein|Familie (= Mr|Mrs|Miss|Family->Mr & Mrs)
Titel:
Dr. | Prof. | etc (Too many titles in Austria to list them all)
Vorname:
First Name (Prenom)
Familienname:
Last Name (Nom de famille)
Firma:
Company or Organization
Beh\"orde:
International, Federal, Provincial or Local Government Authority or Agency;
Some semi-official bodies (Chambers of Commerce, Labour, etc,
Trade Unions, etc) are also addressed in this fashion.
The first line of the address in these cases depends on the
grammatical gender of the agency or authority; "An den" for
masculine, "An die" for feminine or any plural, "An das" for
neuter. Thus:
An den
\"Osterreichischen Gewerkschaftsbund
(To the Austrian Trade Union Federation)
An das
Amt f\"ur Zivilluftfahrt
(To the Civil Aviation Authority)
An die
Internationale Atomenergie-Organisation
(To the International Atomic Energy Agency)
Abteilung:
Department or Division of company or government agency.
z. Hd.:
Short for "zu Handen", "for the hands of" or "for the attention of"
Strasse:
Street or "Postfach" (P.O.Box)
Nummer:
Number of House or P.O.B.; for large complexes building and
entrance numbers, as well as apartment numbers are added separated by
slashes. (i.e. my address is Hauptstrasse 26/B/4/7: the
complex is Hauptstrasse 26, we are in Building B, Entrance 4,
Apartment 7.)
PLZ:
Postal Code (ZIP code is a protected trade mark of the US Post
Office, and applies only to U.S. postal codes.)
Note the pre-pended "A" for "Austria".
Austrian Postal Codes are 4-digit; the first digit somewhat
indicates the Province, but not always and not too
straightforward. Vienna PLZs start with "1", the next two digits
are the district (arrondissement), the last digit is "0" for street
addresses, "1" for P.O.Box addresses, and other digits for special
comapny PLZs similar to French CEDEX. However some entities have
entirely separate PLZs, such as the UN/IAEA complex known as
UNO CITY (1400), and Vienna Airport (1300), which is actually
in Schwechat, a town outside Vienna.
Postort:
The Post Office designation of the place. Actually, in theory
you don't need this, the PLZ should suffice.
Telephone Numbers:
The international code for Austria is 43.
All phone numbers in Austria consist of an area code (one to four
digits) and a phone number (three to seven digits).
In Austria, area codes are usually shown in parentheses, and are
always shown preceded by the 0 which needs to be dialled when calling
from within Austria. To dial an Austrian number from outside the
country, dial your international access code, then "43" instead of the
"0", then the area code and phone number.
Many large entities have in-house extension systems; most of the time
you can dial the extension immediately after the phone number. Such
companies or organizations show their phone number like this,
(0222) 12-34-56 *0
meaning, dial this number (without the "*") to get the switchboard,
or drop the 0 if you know and want to dial the extension.
A phone number shown as
(0222) 12-34-56 789 DW
indicates that "789" is the extension, and it can be dialled straight
through (DW=Durchwahl, "through dialling").
To dial overseas calls from Austria, dial 00 + Country Code + foreign
phone number (w/ area code if required). Exceptions: For Germany,
Switzerland, and Italy, dial 060, 050, and 040, followed by the
area code and phone number.
For some long distance connections within Austria, there are so-called
"short codes"; for example, from most major cities in Austria as well
as from all its suburbs, Vienna can be reached by dialling "9"
followed by the phone number.
Austria has a toll-free number scheme for companies, using the area
code "660". This is similar to U.S. 800 numbers, or U.K. Linkline 0800;
rather than being really free, it is charged as a local call. There
are also other toll-free numbers used for PTT internal use as well as
some of the Country-Direct schemes of foreign phone companies.
--
Wolf N. Paul, IIASA, A - 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe
PHONE: +43-2236-71521-465 FAX: +43-2236-71313 UUCP: uunet!iiasa.at!wnp
INTERNET: wnp%iias...@uunet.uu.net BITNET: tuvie!iiasa!w...@awiuni01.BITNET
* * * * Kurt Waldheim for President (of Mars, of course!) * * * *
Tom Hofmann
|the components. If possible give explanation on the meaning of zip-code, or
|abbreviations. I will describe it for France to give you a skeleton.
|
| ...
|
|<zip-code> : I believe that now in europe we prefix the zip-code with the
|letter-key for the country. My exact address should be "F-78150".
I think your French addressing scheme applies more or less everywhere.
Well, in German speaking countries we write the street first and then
the number (the same in Italy).
One tricky thing is the zip code and the combination of the zip code
with the country code (as on the car plates), since they should be
recognizable by an optical reader.
Here are some rules that should be obeyed in any country (for mail
to any country).
Rule 1: For making the zip code electronically readable it has to appear
in the bottom line of your address.
No problem if you write "75150 Paris" or "F-75150 Paris" as the last
line. A problem occurs, however, if you add one more line containing
"France". Therefore: Whenever possible (i.e. accepted by the PTT) do not
write the country name, but use the combination <country code>-<zip code>
in the BOTTOM line. In most (European) countries the city name follows
the zip code. Exception: In UK and Hungary the zip code has to stand alone
in the bottom line (the city name in the line above). E.g.:
Budapest
H-1234
In countries where the zip code is written AFTER the city name (e.g. USA)
you can make the zip code electronically readable by writing:
national: Xtown 12345
international: Xtown
USA-12345
Rule 2: Do not underline city name and/or zip code.
Rule 3: In cases where the zip code precedes the city name do not push
the zip code to the left (neither the country code).
Wrong: Correct:
<Name> <Name>
<Company> <Company>
<Street, number> <Street, number>
<zip> <city> <zip> <city>
Disregard of rules 1--3 makes it difficult (impossible) for an optical
reader to find the zip code. (The inverse rules were all effective in the
past in at least one country.)
|Telephone (and Fax):
|====================
|How to give an exact phone number : +33.1 39.63.54.42 (this is mine !)
Be careful here. There is a CCITT recommendation which controls the use
of special characters in phone numbers. According to that standard the
dot '.' must not be used. Your correct (in the sense of CCITT) international
phone number is: +33 1 39 63 54 42 or +33 1 39635442.
Tom Hofmann wt...@ciba-geigy.ch