ISO 8583 DE Reference
Format: nLength: 3Fixed length
DE 19

Acquiring Institution Country Code

Data element
19
Format
n
Length
3
Encoding type
fixed
Bitmap
Primary

What it is

ISO 3166 numeric country code of the acquirer — basis for domestic vs cross-border qualification.

Specification reference

Defined in ISO 8583:1987 (base). Card networks publish their own dialect tables (Visa BASE I / V.I.P., Mastercard CIS) that refine formats, lengths, and — for private-use elements — the entire layout. Always confirm against the interface specification you implement.

Decode & build this element

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