The Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 is a membership based not-for-profit organization chartered in 1979 by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to develop uniform data standards and specifications for cross-industry electronic exchange of business transactions. ASC X12 provides a neutral environment and an appropriate structure to foster the development and implementation of data standards.
A large composite of Fortune 500, small and mid-sized companies, industry associations and government agencies participate in ASC X12 and more than 300,000 companies worldwide use the X12 electronic data interchange (EDI) standards in their daily business transactions. ASC X12 also contributes to the development of UN/EDIFACT messages that are widely used outside of the United States. In 2002, ANSI approved an amendment to ASC X12's scope to include the development of business message standards based on the XML syntax, as well as other future data exchange syntaxes.
ASC X12 is the U.S. standards body for the cross-industry development, maintenance, and publication of electronic data exchange standards, based on, but not limited to X12 EDI, XML, and UN/EDIFACT formats. As the preferred standards body for defining requirements of electronic business document content, ASC X12 also serves as a key player in international forums by contributing to the universal core component work and message design architecture.