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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

— 02

Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

X12 861 — Receiving Advice

The 861 is the goods-receipt report: what the buyer actually took in at the dock, with any discrepancies versus the ASN. The business-level close of a shipment.

Purpose

After physically receiving a shipment, the buyer's dock performs a quantitative and qualitative check: comparing cartons actually received against what the 856 promised, SKU-level counting, product condition. The 861 reports the result: for each line, the announced quantity, the received quantity, and a discrepancy code (accepted, refused, short, damaged, over…).

The 861 is the trigger for automatic evaluated receipt settlement (auto-billing): some buyers do not even wait for the supplier's 810 — they generate the invoice themselves from the 861. It is also the piece that closes the three-way match on the accounting side.

Envelope structure

The 861 travels in an RC functional group (Receiving Advice). A didactic 861 where one line is conforming and the second shows a shortage:

x12 example-861.x12 
ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*ACMERETAIL    *ZZ*ACMEVENDOR    *260522*1600*U*00401*000000801*0*P*>~
GS*RC*ACMERETAIL*ACMEVENDOR*20260522*1600*1*X*004010~
ST*861*0001~
BRA*RCV-2026-552*20260522*ASN78901~
DTM*050*20260522~
N1*RE*ACME WAREHOUSE 42*92*0042~
N1*SF*ACME VENDOR INC*92*VEND001~
PRF*PO78901**20260513~
LIN*1*UP*012345678905~
RCD*1*02*2*EA*2*EA~
LIN*2*UP*012345678912~
RCD*2*04*5*EA*4*EA~
CTT*2~
SE*11*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000801~

The BRA (Beginning Segment for Receiving Advice) opens the transaction: internal receipt reference, date, and link to the originating ASN. PRF ties the receipt to the 850 order (PO78901). Each LIN line is followed by an RCD (Receiving Conditions) which carries the action code (02 = Accepted, 04 = Short on Quantity, 05 = Damaged, 07 = Refused, 09 = Overage…) and the announced vs received quantities.

Common segments

  • Header — ST, BRA (Beginning Segment for Receiving Advice), DTM (receipt date), REF, PRF (PO Reference).
  • Parties — N1 loop for Receiver (RE), Ship From (SF), Buyer.
  • Lines — LIN loop with PID, RCD (Receiving Conditions — heart of the 861), QTY, REF, DTM.
  • Summary — CTT, SE.

When you'll see it

  • Retail — feeds vendor compliance scoring (ASN vs reality) and any chargebacks if the discrepancy exceeds the contractual tolerance.
  • Manufacturing — the trigger for billing under evaluated receipt settlement contracts.
  • 3PL — a 3PL sends an 861 to its principal as soon as the receipt is closed in the WMS.
  • Healthcare distribution — even more critical due to QC (lots, expiration, packaging integrity).

Documentation

The code 861 and the name Receiving Advice/Acceptance Certificate are public and listed on x12.org/products/transaction-sets. The detail of RCD01 action codes belongs to the proprietary Implementation Guides (TR3); ediverse.io does not redistribute them.