EDI (Electronic
Data
Interchange) is the exchange of information between trading partners where the information is formatted according to a set of common data format standards developed in the U.S. and Western Europe during the late 1970s. EDI standards describe the format of the data that is to be exchanged. These standards are independent of the transport.
TRADACOMS is a UK based standard, designed for domestic trade. The first TRADACOMS standard was released in 1982, a number of years before EDIFACT appeared. There are a few similarities between the two, but also some significant differences.