CUSCAR — EDIFACT Customs Cargo Report Message (D.97A)
The CUSCAR message is the cargo report sent to a customs administration by a carrier or consignee upon or before the arrival of a means of transport: it describes the contents of a container or full shipment for customs control, safety/security and import/export statistics. This page summarises the segment structure as published by UN/CEFACT for directory D.97A.
Purpose
The CUSCAR message is the cargo report sent to a customs administration by a carrier or consignee upon or before the arrival of a means of transport: it describes the contents of a container or full shipment for customs control, safety/security and import/export statistics.
This page focuses on the structure published by UN/CEFACT for directory D.97A. The segments listed, their status (M / C), position and repetition factor are extracted from the official file cuscar_c.htm hosted on service.unece.org.
Segment structure
The CUSCAR D.97A message has 0 header entries, 0 detail entries and 0 summary entries (segments and groups combined). Groups are shown in bold and their members are indented by actual nesting depth.
Header
No segment in this section.
Detail
No segment in this section.
Summary
No segment in this section.
Changes vs D.96A
Top-level differences between D.96A and D.97A for the CUSCAR message (segments directly inside header / detail / summary, ignoring nested groups). The comparison is indicative: a given tag may have evolved inside nested groups without showing up in this synthesis.
Segments removed vs D.96A
UNHin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.BGMin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.DTMin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.RFFin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.NADin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.CTAin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.COMin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.FTXin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.TDTin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.LOCin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.GISin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.EQDin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.TSRin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.MEAin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.DIMin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.SELin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.TMPin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.RNGin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.CNTin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.CNIin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.MOAin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.CUXin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.CPIin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.QTYin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.GIDin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.PACin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.HANin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.SGPin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.DGSin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.PCIin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.CSTin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.DOCin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.AUTin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.UNTin the header section — present in D.96A but missing in D.97A at the same level.
Structural example
Minimal example of an CUSCAR D.97A message with mandatory segments only. The goal is to show the exact version declared in UNH (CUSCAR:D:97A:UN) — not to replicate a full business case (see the CUSCAR D.96A page for an annotated example).
UNB+UNOC:3+5410000000123:14+5410000000456:14+260514:1430+CTRL097001'
UNH+1+CUSCAR:D:97A:UN'
BGM+929+CUSCAR-2026-0123+9'
DTM+137:20260514:102'
NAD+CA+5410000000123::9'
NAD+CZ+5410000000456::9'
TDT+20+MSC1234W+1++MSC::ZZZ+++9301234:103:::MSC OSCAR'
LOC+9+FRLEH::6'
LOC+11+NLRTM::6'
RFF+BM:BL-2026-7811'
EQD+CN+MSCU1234567+45G1+++5'
MEA+AAE+G+KGM:24500'
UNT+11+1'
UNZ+1+CTRL097001'Common errors
- Misaligned UNH tokens — The
UNH+...+CUSCAR:D:97A:UNtoken must reflect exactly the directory in use — a mismatch between the UNH release and the release agreed with the partner is rejected by every strict validator. - Wrong UNT segment count — The value after
UNT+must include UNH and UNT themselves. By far the most common sender-side error, regardless of the directory in use. - Stale code lists — Between D.96A and D.97A, several code lists received new qualifiers (DTM status, RFF qualifier, NAD codes…). Reusing an older directory’s code tables triggers warnings or even rejections depending on the partner’s strict-conformance mode.
Related messages
Other versions of this message available on ediverse.io: CUSCAR D.96A, CUSCAR D.01B, CUSCAR D.10A, CUSCAR D.16B, CUSCAR D.21B, CUSCAR D.24A, CUSCAR D.99B, CUSCAR D.00B, CUSCAR D.02B, CUSCAR D.05A, CUSCAR D.08A, CUSCAR D.13B, CUSCAR D.18B, CUSCAR D.20B.
X12 functional equivalent: X12 309.