Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport (EDIFACT) is an international EDI standard for the exchange of messages that was adopted by organisations wishing to trade globally.

EDIFACT is fundamentally limited because it is:

• unable to carry SNOMED CT encoded test result concepts – it can only support Read v2 Pathology Bounded Code List (PBCL) codes. Read v2 was retired in April 2016 and it is no longer possible to create new national Read codes.
• unable to support complex report structures containing fully atomic, coded results – data elements are mainly represented as text.

The continued use of Pathology Messaging Implementation Project (PMIP) EDIFACT is a significant barrier to new market entrants who struggle to implement a messaging technology that is over 30 years old, and not aligned with modern standards such as Health Level 7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (HL7 FHIR).

Formal retirement of EDIFACT will take place on 31 March 2024 with a target retirement date of 31 March 2025.