EDIFACT — fully UN/EDIFACT (United Nations Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport) — is the international EDI standard maintained by the UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT). It is the dominant EDI standard outside North America, especially in Europe, Asia, and for international ocean shipping documents.
EDIFACT message types relevant to customs and shipping include:
- CUSCAR — Customs Cargo Report (cargo manifests to customs)
- CUSDEC — Customs Declaration (formal customs declarations, similar in role to U.S. entry filings)
- CUSRES — Customs Response (customs system responses to declarations)
- IFTMIN — Instruction Message (booking, transport instructions)
- IFTMBF — Booking Firm Message (booking confirmation)
- IFTMCS — Instruction Contract Status (carrier status updates)
- COARRI — Container Discharge/Loading Report
- CODECO — Container Gate-in/Gate-out Report
EU customs systems including ICS2, the New Computerised Transit System (NCTS), and Export Control System (ECS) accept EDIFACT messages alongside more modern XML and JSON formats.
EDIFACT differs from ANSI X.12 in syntax (segment terminators, element separators, character sets) and in message-set conventions (verbose three-letter codes versus numbered transactions). The two are not directly interchangeable — large ocean carriers and forwarders typically support both, translating between them at the edge of their systems.