# EU system for classifying levels of government?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eu-system-for-classifying-levels-of-government/732957>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 29, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eu-system-for-classifying-levels-of-government/732957 "2015-09-29T15:32:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eu-system-for-classifying-levels-of-government/732957/1 "2015-09-29T15:32:47Z")

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I have read – in Wikipedia, I think, but I cannot seem to find anything there about it right now – that the European Union has worked out a consistent classification-system for different sub-national levels of government, so that British counties and parishes, French regions and departments, Swiss cantons, German lander, all would be labeled “L1” or “L2” or something like that. Anyone know anything about this?

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**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eu-system-for-classifying-levels-of-government/732957/2 "2015-09-29T16:16:19Z")

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[NUTS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomenclature_of_Territorial_Units_for_Statistics) and [LAU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_administrative_unit).

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eu-system-for-classifying-levels-of-government/732957/3 "2015-09-29T18:36:47Z")

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Thanks! 🙂

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**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eu-system-for-classifying-levels-of-government/732957/4 "2015-09-29T19:08:21Z")

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What about homeowner’s associations?

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eu-system-for-classifying-levels-of-government/732957/5 "2015-09-29T19:33:37Z")

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Those are a particularly (uniquely?) American phenomenon.

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eu-system-for-classifying-levels-of-government/732957/6 "2015-09-29T19:40:31Z")

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> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> Those are a particularly (uniquely?) American phenomenon.

There are plenty of Residents’ Associations in the UK.

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eu-system-for-classifying-levels-of-government/732957/7 "2015-09-29T19:46:19Z")

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They’re nothing like homeowners’ associations. The latter are something approaching a fourth layer of government, with compulsory membership, the right to assess fees and fines, and so forth.