The AFNOR standard currently in use, NF Z10-011, otherwise known as the 38 standard, dates from january 2013. It has been validated and is used by LA POSTE.

The AFNOR (l’Association Française de Normalisation - the French Standards Association) is a State-controlled organisation. It sets the standards that are to be applied in the fields of technology, science and business.

The AFNOR address standard is established by a working group comprised of address professionals. The standard enables :

• the quality of processing procedures linked to address to be improved,
• more efficient file exchanges between professionals,
• the structuring of databases and their extraction.

LA POSTE SNA is the absolute specialist of the French address standard.

Please contact us if you would like to receive more information about the French address standard, set up a training course or if you would like us to attend any conferences or seminars with your customers.

The golden rules of the French address standard

The French address standard can be summed up in a few key points, which vary depending upon the type of addresses (company or private individual) :

Information printed in order starting with name information (name and company’s name) and finishing with the destination town of the addresses.

• Information set out in order starting with the name and company name and finishing with the address’s locality.

• 6 lines maximum - 7 for International mail. Blank lines must be deleted.

• 38 characters - including spaces maximum per line. There must be a space between all words.

• No punctuation marks, underlining or words printed in italic in the " street number and thoroughfare" line. No coma after the street number.

• THE LAST LINE (6) MUST ALWAYS BE PRINTED IN UPPER CASE LETTERS and preferably also lines 4 - 5 - 6.

• The address block must be justified to the left.

Depending upon whether the addresses is a private individual or a company, the structure of lines 1 and 2 of the address can vary.