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Transaction message formats for electronic trading
When EDItEUR was formed in 1991, electronic trading in national and international book and serials supply chains was in its infancy. Today, it is an accepted way of doing business in the wholesale and retail book trade, and in library supply. Orders, order responses, despatch notices, invoices and other everyday transactions are routinely communicated through electronic networks in a number of standard formats.

EDItEUR is responsible for the implementation and maintenance of two generations of message formats for electronic trading in the book and serials sectors.

EDIFACT
EDIFACT is the UN-ECE standard for international trading communication. EDIFACT aims within each individual message format to cover the requirements of a wide variety of industries. EDItEUR maintains implementation guidelines and code lists to enable a subset of EDIFACT messages to be used in book supply and in some serials-related applications.

EDItX
EDItX is a family of XML transaction message formats, developed by EDItEUR. In contrast to EDIFACT, each format is tailored specifically to an individual book trade application, while using common elements across the whole set of messages. XML is recognised as the syntax of choice for future trading communication. In particular, it lends itself to the immediacy of delivery and response which are possible when web services are used.