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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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X12 856 — Ship Notice/Manifest (ASN)

The 856, better known as the ASN (Advance Ship Notice), physically pre-announces a shipment: what is leaving, in which cartons, on which pallets, on what date.

Purpose

The ASN is the document that makes goods-in flow: on receipt of the 856, the buyer's dock knows which order is arriving, on which vehicle, with how many cartons, and — critically — each carton carries an SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code) label that the 856 has already declared. Scanning the SSCC at the dock unrolls the expected contents without opening the carton.

The 856 models a hierarchy: a shipment contains orders, which contain packs (or pallets), which contain items. This pyramid is described by the HL segment (Hierarchical Level), which points to its parent and carries a level code (S = Shipment, O = Order, P = Pack, I = Item, T = Tare…). Without well-formed HLs, the 856 loses its purpose.

Envelope structure

The 856 travels in an SH functional group (Ship Notice). A didactic ASN for an order of two items shipped in a single carton:

x12 example-856.x12 
ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*ACMEVENDOR    *ZZ*ACMERETAIL    *260520*0830*U*00401*000000201*0*P*>~
GS*SH*ACMEVENDOR*ACMERETAIL*20260520*0830*1*X*004010~
ST*856*0001~
BSN*00*ASN78901*20260520*0830~
HL*1**S~
TD1*CTN*4****G*120*LB~
TD5*B*2*UPSN*M~
N1*ST*ACME WAREHOUSE 42*92*0042~
HL*2*1*O~
PRF*PO78901**20260513~
HL*3*2*P~
MAN*GM*00012345600000056789~
HL*4*3*I~
LIN**UP*012345678905~
SN1**2*EA~
CTT*4~
SE*14*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000201~

The BSN segment opens the transaction: function code, ASN number, ship date and time. The pyramid HL*1 (Shipment) → HL*2*1 (Order, parent = 1) → HL*3*2 (Pack, parent = 2) → HL*4*3 (Item, parent = 3) structures the read. The MAN at Pack level carries the SSCC (the GM 00… code).

Common segments

  • Header — ST, BSN (Beginning Segment for Ship Notice), DTM (dates).
  • Shipment level — HL, TD1 (Carrier Details — Quantity and Weight), TD3 (equipment), TD5 (Routing), REF, FOB, N1 (parties).
  • Order level — HL, PRF (Purchase Order Reference) linking back to the 850, REF, order-specific N1.
  • Pack / Tare level — HL, MAN (Marks and Numbers — carries the SSCC), PO4 (Item Physical Details).
  • Item level — HL, LIN, SN1 (Item Detail — Shipment), PID, DTM, REF.
  • Summary — CTT, SE.

When you'll see it

  • Retail — the ASN is the transaction that drives vendor compliance scoring. Penalties commonly apply for missing, late, mismatched (versus physical delivery), or duplicate-SSCC ASNs.
  • Automotive / industrial — paired with an automated dock system: scanning the SSCC opens the goods-receipt directly in the ERP.
  • E-commerce distribution — used for drop-ship flows and marketplaces aggregating multiple suppliers on a single delivery note.

Documentation

The code 856 and the name Ship Notice/Manifest are public and listed on x12.org/products/transaction-sets. The detail of HL levels, qualifiers, and code lists belongs to the proprietary Implementation Guides (TR3); ediverse.io does not redistribute it. For SSCC and GS1-128 conventions, see the public GS1 resources.