UNECE record
IANA-assigned DNS record type for data coded according to a United Nations Economic Commission for Europe recommendation.
Written and maintained by Ben Ennis
Last reviewed July 27, 2026 · How we verify this
Zone-file example
example.com. 3600 IN TYPE69 <recommendation-coded-value>Typical uses
- Publishing a value whose syntax is defined by a UNECE recommendation and its consuming application
- Giving an external standards registry a DNS-native type assignment rather than overloading TXT
- Testing interoperable DNS tooling against the IANA external-registry type assignments
- Documenting an application profile while the underlying recommendation and deployment practice mature
When it breaks, check
- The IANA assignment does not define the recommendation's payload grammar or make a generic resolver understand it
- Do not substitute an arbitrary string for the value; follow the UNECE recommendation selected by the application
- A successful DNS response proves only that the authoritative zone published the type and data
- Check authoritative and recursive servers separately when testing a newly supported type
What the UNECE record does
UNECE belongs to the external-registry record-type assignments. A zone can publish data under the type when a consuming protocol has defined which UNECE recommendation supplies the value’s meaning. DNS carries the typed RDATA, while the application supplies the interpretation and validation rules.
The record is not a replacement for an ordinary A, AAAA, MX, or TXT record. A web browser will not use it to select an address, and a generic DNS library may expose it only as an unknown type. Operators should document the profile, expected owner name, and software that reads it before adding the record to a production zone.
Zone-file and wire format
The wire type is UNECE, with IANA value 69. The RDATA syntax is not a general DNS presentation format; it is coded according to the UNECE recommendation selected by the application. A zone-file example must therefore use the profile’s exact field and escaping rules rather than treating the payload as an unstructured TXT string.
; illustrative placeholder only — use the profile-defined payload
example.com. 3600 IN TYPE69 <recommendation-coded-value>Common uses
Use UNECE only when an application or interoperability profile explicitly requires this IANA type. It may be useful in a standards-driven data exchange where the DNS namespace is already the discovery surface and the consuming software knows how to validate the recommendation-coded value. For ordinary text metadata, use TXT; for an address, use A or AAAA.
Troubleshooting
Start with the application profile, not with a generic DNS query. Confirm the owner name, class, type value, and RDATA encoding from the profile, then query an authoritative server with a resolver that can display unknown types. Compare UDP and TCP responses if the payload is large, and check DNSSEC separately if the application requires authenticated publication.
If a client ignores the record, that may be expected: the IANA assignment alone does not require every resolver or application to implement the UNECE payload. Check software support and profile version before changing the zone.
dig example.com TYPE69 +noall +answer
# Query an authoritative server when diagnosing propagation.
dig @ns1.example.net example.com TYPE69 +norecurse +noall +answerThe defining RFC
UNECE is DNS type 69 in the IANA DNS Parameters registry. The registry associates the type with a UNECE-coded value and an external-registry template; it does not replace the recommendation’s application specification. Treat the current registration as an interoperability assignment, and verify the consuming profile before publishing data.
Reference and tooling
Every record type and its assigned numeric value is listed in theIANA DNS Parameters registry. To query a live zone from the browser, use theDNS lookup tool. If the record you are chasing is TLS-related, the TLS inspector andCertificate Transparency lookup are usually the next two stops.