Standards
There are two major sets of EDI standards. UN/EDIFACT is the only international standard (in fact, a United Nations recommendation) and is predominant in all areas outside of North America. ANSI ASC X12 (X12) is popular in North America and used worldwide.
ANSI ASC X12 Standart
ANSI ASC X12 is the official designation of the US National standards body for the development and maintenance of EDI standards for the United States. The group was founded in 1979, and is an accredited standards committee under the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The acronym stands for "American National Standards Institute Accredited Standards Committee X12", with "X12" being a sequential designator assigned by ANSI at the time of accreditation with no other significance.
