<s>
The	O
regional	B-Protocol
indicator	I-Protocol
symbols	I-Protocol
are	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
26	O
alphabetic	O
Unicode	O
characters	O
(	O
A	O
–	O
Z	O
)	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
encode	O
ISO	B-Language
3166-1	I-Language
alpha-2	I-Language
two-letter	O
country	B-General_Concept
codes	I-General_Concept
in	O
a	O
way	O
that	O
allows	O
optional	O
special	O
treatment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
were	O
defined	O
by	O
October	O
2010	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Unicode	O
6.0	O
support	O
for	O
emoji	B-Application
,	O
as	O
an	O
alternative	O
to	O
encoding	O
separate	O
characters	O
for	O
each	O
country	O
flag	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
pair	O
of	O
regional	B-Protocol
indicator	I-Protocol
symbols	I-Protocol
is	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
an	O
emoji	B-Application
flag	O
sequence	O
(	O
although	O
it	O
represents	O
a	O
specific	O
region	O
,	O
not	O
a	O
specific	O
flag	O
for	O
that	O
region	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Out	O
of	O
the	O
676	O
possible	O
pairs	O
of	O
regional	B-Protocol
indicator	I-Protocol
symbols	I-Protocol
(	O
26	O
×	O
26	O
)	O
,	O
only	O
270	O
are	O
considered	O
valid	O
Unicode	O
region	O
codes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
separate	O
mechanism	O
(	O
emoji	B-Application
tag	O
sequences	O
)	O
is	O
used	O
for	O
regional	O
flags	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
England	O
,	O
Scotland	O
,	O
Wales	O
,	O
Texas	O
or	O
California	O
It	O
uses	O
and	O
formatting	O
tag	O
characters	O
instead	O
of	O
regional	B-Protocol
indicator	I-Protocol
symbols	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
vendors	O
choose	O
to	O
include	O
custom	O
zero-width	O
joiner	O
sequences	O
that	O
only	O
show	O
up	O
on	O
their	O
platform	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
WhatsApp	B-Application
and	O
their	O
Refugee	O
Nation	O
Flag	O
🏳️‍🟧‍⬛️‍🟧	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2007	O
a	O
draft	O
proposal	O
was	O
presented	O
to	O
the	O
Unicode	O
Technical	O
Committee	O
to	O
encode	O
emoji	B-Application
symbols	O
,	O
specifically	O
those	O
in	O
widespread	O
use	O
on	O
mobile	O
phones	O
by	O
Japanese	O
telecommunications	O
companies	O
DoCoMo	O
,	O
KDDI	O
,	O
and	O
SoftBank	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
proposed	O
symbols	O
included	O
ten	O
national	O
flags	O
:	O
China	O
( 🇨🇳	O
)	O
,	O
Germany	O
( 🇩🇪	O
)	O
,	O
Spain	O
( 🇪🇸	O
)	O
,	O
France	O
( 🇫🇷	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
UK	O
( 🇬🇧	O
)	O
,	O
Italy	O
( 🇮🇹	O
)	O
,	O
Japan	O
( 🇯🇵	O
)	O
,	O
South	O
Korea	O
( 🇰🇷	O
)	O
,	O
Russia	O
( 🇷🇺	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
( 🇺🇸	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
rejected	O
solution	O
was	O
to	O
encode	O
the	O
ten	O
flags	O
but	O
call	O
them	O
"	O
EMOJI	B-Application
COMPATIBILITY	O
SYMBOL-n	O
"	O
and	O
represent	O
them	O
visually	O
in	O
the	O
Standard	O
as	O
"	O
EC	O
n	O
"	O
instead	O
of	O
showing	O
the	O
flags	O
they	O
represent	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
would	O
represent	O
political	O
entities	O
based	O
on	O
ISO	O
3166	O
such	O
as	O
"	O
FR	O
"	O
for	O
France	O
or	O
Internet	B-Application
ccTLDs	I-Application
(	O
country	B-Application
code	I-Application
top-level	I-Application
domains	I-Application
)	O
such	O
as	O
"	O
EU	O
"	O
for	O
the	O
European	O
Union	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
specifically	O
the	O
ten	O
national	O
flags	O
:	O
🇨🇳	O
,	O
🇩🇪	O
,	O
🇪🇸	O
,	O
🇫🇷	O
,	O
🇬🇧	O
,	O
🇮🇹	O
,	O
🇯🇵	O
,	O
🇰🇷	O
,	O
🇷🇺	O
,	O
and	O
🇺🇸	O
.	O
</s>
