June 14, 2017 Industry news
From 1 July 2017 GS1 UK will no longer provide any support for the TRADACOMS EDI messaging standard
TRADACOMS was first developed back in the early 1980s as an EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) standard for retailers and wholesalers to process orders and invoices with their mainly UK-based suppliers. Since 1998 existing users have only received basic TRADACOMS support from GS1 UK for current applications and there has been no development of any new message types.
During this time, new EDI users have been advised to adopt the EANCOM standard with their trading partners wherever possible. EANCOM is the most widely used GS1 global standard for EDI. GS1 XML is another alternative that is used globally. Both are actively developed and supported in response to our members’ needs.
Although GS1 UK has provided some level of support for the TRADACOMS standard since 1998, it has been agreed that considering the increasing unsuitability of TRADACOMS for today’s trading, and the fact that it is not a GS1 global standard for EDI, GS1 UK will, as of 1 July 2017, only support the recognised GS1 EDI standards EANCOM, GS1 XML and the GS1 UN/CEFACT XML profile.
For GS1 UK to best support its members and continue to promote the adoption of global standards, guidelines for migrating TRADACOMS to EANCOM for order and invoice messages are being produced by the GS1 UK EDI Standards Implementation Group (ESIG).
Read the full statement and guides on how to convert TRADACOMS orders and invoices to EANCOM