UN/EDIFACT

UN/EDIFACT is the acronym fo the United Nations/Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport.

It is a set of regulations defined and continually adapted by the United Nations specifically developed for the electronic data exchange. It establishes the norms for business and trade processes and counteracts proprietory standards within specific industries.

UN/EDIFACT is applied world-wide and enables the process integration between software programs of all participating companies.

Data regulation processes have been developed for specific business applications, such as bid submitting, awarding of orders or contracts, confirmations, completing customs or transportation forms, billing, payment settlement, etc. These regulations refer to the data use patterns and the syntax for the structure of the electronically transmitted messages.

Messages currently supported by Swiss financial institutions

The UN/EDIFACT data definition and regulations are successively being introduced as the norm for the electronic data exchange between Swiss financial institutions and their partners. The following acronyms are currently in use for electronic payment traffic processes:

Message and meaning

PAYORD/PAYEXT Single payment order
PAYMUL Multiple payment order
DIRDEB Direct debit transaction (LSV/BAD)
DEBADV Single debit advice
DEBMUL Multiple debit transaction
CREADV/CREEXT Single credit advice
CREMUL Multiple credit advice
FINSTA Statement
BANSTA Acknowledgement at application level
CONTRL Technical confirmation Interchange

Different financial institutions have progressed farther than others in the process of adapting to the new UN/EDIFACT norms. Updated information is available at the respective financial institution.

Additional Information: Introduction, Payment Traffic, Security

Below is a list of additional documents providing further information about UN/EDIFACT, compiled by SIX Interbank Clearing.

GII (Generic Implementation Information) Info V1.2 English
BANSTA D.96 A (Banking status message) Info V1.3 English
CONTRL (Syntax and service report message) Info V1.1 English
UN/EDIFACT-Messages for the Banking Traffic
(PAYORD/PAYEXT, DEBADV, CREADV/CREEXT)
Info V1.2 German
CREMUL D.96A (Multiple credit advice message including an Appendix with mapping of ESR Records Type 3 and Type 4 and an example for a CREMUL out ofan IPI payment) Info V1.6 English
DEBMUL D.96A (Multiple Debit Advice Message) Info V1.4 English
BPSR Acknowledgements / PSR Credit Records based on CREADV/CREEXT Info V1.1 German
FINSTA D.96A (Financial Statement of an Account Message) Info V1.3.1 English
PAYMUL D.96A (Multiple Payment Order Message) Info V1.4 English
DIRDEB D.96A (Direct Debit Message) Info V1.2 English
DIRDEB for LSV+ Info V1.0 English
TBSS (Telematic Base Security Services) Info V1.2 English
Secure Electronic Message Traffic for Swiss Financial institutions Info V1.1 German

The description of the record structure is in PDF. To read these files, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You may download it here