The diversity of EDI standards is due to the development of sectoral standards. Standardisation first started at sectoral level, in logistics, the automotive industry, and commerce, followed by the electronics industry. Meanwhile, a global standardisation process was launched, whose fruit is the EDIFACT standard. EDIFACT was designed and is maintained under the aegis of the United Nations. EDIFACT is used by all industries due to its more extensive level of standardisation and standard interoperability across different industries. The automotive industry is replacing the VDA standard with EDIFACT, which is also gaining ground in the Unites States at the expense of ANSI (ASC) X.12.

The standardisation of the sub-sets used in practice of the various standards involves international coordinating bodies that develop recommendations for message content in line with the legislation of the given country. One of these international organisations is GS1, which has created for example the so-called EANCOM recommendations for invoices according to the sectoral requirements of several countries, as the data content of invoices is heavily dependent on national legislation.