Legal basis and governing authority
- The Order directs action by virtue of the powers vested in the President by the Constitution.
- It binds all offices, agencies and other instrumentalities of the Philippine Government through an executive direction.
Policy purpose: remove ambiguity and standardize usage
- The Order recognizes that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns country codes through ISO 3166-1.
- The Order states that PH and PHL are the ISO codes assigned to the Philippines.
- The Order explains that ISO codes are used in international events, conferences, sports meets, airline ticketing, and other contexts abroad and in the Philippines.
- The Order emphasizes that using RP to refer to the Philippines creates ambiguity and confusion because it does not follow ISO 3166-1.
ISO codes mandated for government usage
- The Order requires adoption of the ISO two-letter code PH when referring to the Philippines.
- The Order requires adoption of the ISO three-letter code PHL when referring to the Philippines.
- The Order directs the use of these ISO codes instead of using initials RP that do not conform to ISO 3166-1.
Coverage: all PH government instrumentalities
- The Order directs compliance by all offices, agencies and other instrumentalities of the Philippine Government.
- The directive applies when referring to the Philippines in official usage by covered government entities.
Required implementation deadline standard
- The Order requires adoption and use “as soon as practicable”.
- The Order uses a uniform government-wide implementation direction rather than setting specific task-by-task deadlines or phased compliance dates.