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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

X12 244 — Product Source Information

The 244 transmits product sourcing information — plant, lot, country of origin, supplier — for regulatory or commercial traceability.

Purpose

The 244 documents the sourcing chain of a product: country of origin (Country of Origin Labeling — COOL), assembly plant, lot or batch numbers, supplier(s), production date, traceability codes (medical UDI, GS1 SGTIN). It is used to meet Buy American, COOL for food, FDA UDI for medical, USDA and NOAA for seafood / agriculture obligations.

It integrates with food, medical, and defense trade flows (Buy American Act, BAA). Acknowledged by 997; it typically accompanies an 856 (ASN) or an 810 (Invoice).

Envelope structure

The 244 travels within the three X12 envelope levels (ISA/IEA, GS/GE with functional group PS, and ST/SE). Didactic example in release 004010:

x12 example-244.x12 
ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*SUPPLIER      *ZZ*BUYERCORP      *260514*1000*U*00401*000000244*0*P*>~
GS*PS*SUPPLIER*BUYERCORP*20260514*1000*1*X*004010~
ST*244*0001~
BGN*00*PS-2026-0042*20260514~
N1*SU*ACME SUPPLIER*24*EIN-SUPPLIER~
LIN**UP*012345678905~
REF*ZZ*COUNTRY-ORIGIN-US~
REF*ZZ*PLANT-DETROIT-MI~
REF*ZZ*LOT-2026-04-0099~
DTM*002*20260420~
SE*9*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000244~

Common segments

  • Header — ST, BGN.
  • Supplier — N1*SU (Supplier).
  • Product — LIN (item GTIN or GS1), REF*ZZ (Country of Origin ISO 3166), REF*ZZ (Plant), REF*ZZ (lot / batch).
  • Timing — DTM*002 (production date).
  • Summary — SE.

Common pitfalls

  • Precise Country of Origin: for Buy American (FAR §52.225) or COOL (USDA 7 CFR §60), origin must be at country level; generic 'imported' is insufficient and items are rejected in federal procurement or unlabeled retail.
  • Medical lot tracking: FDA UDI requires the combination Device Identifier + Production Identifier (lot/serial); a medical 244 with lot but no DI is non-compliant.
  • Substantial transformation: the substantial-transformation rule may force several countries to be listed; a 244 carrying only one can mislead COOL.

Documentation

The code 244 and the name Product Source Information are public and listed on x12.org/products/transaction-sets. The complete structure of loops, qualifiers and code lists is distributed by DISA via the proprietary Implementation Guides (TR3). ediverse.io covers only public concepts, the envelope and didactic examples.