ebCore Party ID specifications

In an eDelivery network, participants must be identified in a clear and consistent way before any technical interaction can take place. The ebCore Party ID specifications define how organisations are identified across eDelivery, independently of the messaging protocol or infrastructure component used.

What is the eDelivery ebCore Party ID profile?

The eDelivery ebCore Party ID profile is an eDelivery-specific profiling of the OASIS ebCore Party Id Type specification and aligns with internationally recognised identifier schemes, including those registered under ISO 6523.

By relying on these standards, eDelivery ensures compatibility with existing national and sector-specific identification systems.

The profile defines how party identifiers must be expressed and used within eDelivery.

In practice, ebCore Party IDs are used to identify participants in:

• AS4 message headers (sender, receiver, original sender, final recipient)
• Service Metadata Publishers (SMPs), to associate metadata with a participant
• The Service Metadata Locator (SML) mechanism, where identifiers are used in DNS records

The profile ensures that the same identifier is used consistently across all these contexts.

Current versions

Two generations of the ebCore Party ID profile are currently relevant in eDelivery:

• ebCore Party ID 1.x, which has been widely adopted and used in production for several years. Many production eDelivery networks continue to rely on this version today. It remains a stable and well-understood basis for participant identification.
• ebCore Party ID 2.0, adopted in December 2024. This version builds on the long-established ebCore Party ID model and provides updated profiling aligned with the latest eDelivery specifications. It is expected to be adopted progressively by eDelivery ecosystems in the years following its adoption, as software products and infrastructures evolve.

Both profiles are based on the same underlying principles and standards, and serve the same functional role within the eDelivery framework.

For previous versions, see Archive eDelivery ebCore Party ID.

Why ebCore Party ID matters

ebCore Party ID provides the common language for identifying participants, on top of which all other eDelivery interactions depend.

Organisations use many different identification schemes worldwide: national business registers, GS1 identifiers, DUNS numbers and others. Without a shared format, the same organisation could be represented differently across systems, making interoperability fragile or impossible.

The ebCore Party ID specifications address this by defining:

• A standard syntax for expressing participant identifiers
• A clear separation between identifier scheme and identifier value
• A globally interoperable representation, based on recognised international registries

How ebCore Party ID fits into the eDelivery framework

ebCore Party ID specifications form the foundation of identification in eDelivery. They work together with the other eDelivery profiles as follows:

• ebCore Party ID defines how a network participant is uniquely identified
• BDXL defines how Access Points locate the Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) responsible for that identifier
• SMP defines how service metadata is structured and published for that participant
• AS4 defines how an Access Point exchanges messages securely, possibly relying on BDXL and SMP to dynamically discover the details of the recipient

Stay informed about specification updates

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