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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

EANCOM — the GS1 subset of EDIFACT

The EDIFACT dialect of retail. EANCOM takes the EDIFACT grammar, simplifies it, and mandates the GS1 identifiers (GLN, GTIN, SSCC) so manufacturers, retailers and logistics providers worldwide can talk to each other unambiguously.

What is EANCOM?

EANCOM (EAN + COMmunication) is the GS1 implementation guideline of UN/EDIFACT. EDIFACT is vast and permissive; for a given sector you must decide which segments to use, in what order, with which qualifiers. EANCOM does that work for the consumer-goods supply chain: it selects a subset of EDIFACT, pins down the usage, and publishes message-by-message guides.

EANCOM's defining feature is its GS1 anchoring: where generic EDIFACT leaves the choice of party and item identifiers open, EANCOM mandates the GS1 keys. A party is designated by its GLN, an item by its GTIN, a shipping unit by its SSCC. That is what lets a supplier and a retailer in two different countries understand each other without a bilateral mapping table.

Anatomy of an EANCOM message

An EANCOM message is a classic EDIFACT message: a UNB…UNZ envelope, a UNH…UNT message, and segments whose components are separated by + and :, terminated by '. Here is an EANCOM order (ORDERS):

text orders-eancom-d01b.edi 
UNB+UNOC:3+5412345000013:14+4012345500004:14+260623:1015+0001'
UNH+ME000001+ORDERS:D:01B:UN:EAN010'
BGM+220+PO-2026-4471+9'
DTM+137:20260623:102'
DTM+2:20260701:102'
NAD+BY+5412345000013::9'
NAD+SU+4012345500004::9'
LIN+1++4006381333931:SRV'
IMD+F++:::Ground coffee 250 g'
QTY+21:240'
PRI+AAA:2.85'
LIN+2++4006381333948:SRV'
QTY+21:120'
PRI+AAA:3.10'
UNS+S'
CNT+2:2'
UNT+15+ME000001'
UNZ+1+0001'

The key segments: BGM carries the document type and number; NAD+BY and NAD+SU identify the buyer and supplier by their GLN (qualifier 9 denotes the GS1 scheme); each LIN carries the GTIN of the ordered item; QTY the quantity and PRI the price. The whole thing stays 100% EDIFACT — an EDIFACT parser reads an EANCOM message unchanged.

The GS1 keys: GLN, GTIN, SSCC

  • GLN (Global Location Number, 13 digits) — identifies a party or a location (head office, warehouse, store). Carried by the NAD segment.
  • GTIN (Global Trade Item Number, 8/12/13/14 digits) — identifies a trade item. Carried by LIN / PIA.
  • SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code, 18 digits) — identifies a logistic unit (pallet, parcel). Central to the DESADV despatch advice, where it links the physical contents to the GS1-128 label.

The EANCOM messages

MessageRolePhase
PRICATPrice / item cataloguePre-sales
ORDERSOrderOrdering
ORDRSPOrder responseOrdering
DESADVDespatch advice (SSCC)Delivery
RECADVReceiving adviceDelivery
INVOICInvoice / credit noteInvoicing
SLSRPTSales report (point-of-sale data)Steering
INVRPTInventory reportSteering
DELFOR / DELJITDelivery schedulesReplenishment

Versions

EANCOM comes in two main generations:

  • EANCOM 1997 — based on EDIFACT syntax version 2 and 1990s directories. Still present in legacy flows.
  • EANCOM 2002 — based on EDIFACT syntax version 3 (ISO 9735) and recent directories (typically D.01B). This is the reference for current integrations. GS1 publishes a guide per message and annotated examples.

EANCOM in its ecosystem

  • Grammar: EANCOM is EDIFACT — same segments, same ISO 9735 syntax.
  • Identifiers: the GS1 keys (GLN, GTIN, SSCC) are at the heart of the model; see the GS1 parser.
  • British cousin: TRADACOMS, the former GS1 UK standard that EANCOM replaced internationally.
  • Transport: like any EDIFACT, EANCOM travels over AS2, OFTP2, SFTP or value-added networks.

Further reading