ANSI X12

ANSI ASC X12 is the American National Standards Institute's EDI standard, developed since 1979 and dominant across North American business-to-business electronic exchange. While UN/EDIFACT rules international trade, X12 rules domestic US trade — and the two coexist in cross-border supply chains.

X12 messages use a different syntax to EDIFACT (segment IDs are 2-3 letters with numeric qualifiers — e.g., ST for transaction set header, BEG for beginning, N1 for name). Each transaction set has a 3-digit number: 204 Motor Carrier Load Tender, 210 Freight Invoice, 214 Transportation Status, 301 Confirmation Booking, 309 Customs Manifest, 856 Advance Ship Notice.

X12 dominates US trucking, retail, healthcare claims and banking. Freight platforms must speak both X12 (US) and EDIFACT (international) to operate end-to-end.