ASC X12 has developed Standards to facilitate the transmission of electronic business messages for over 30 years. The Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA) holds the copyright on the Standards and associated publications designed to facilitate implementation of the Standards on behalf of ASC X12. Users of all ASC X12 publications should be aware of the permissible uses, as well as the limitations on such usage, as outlined below.

ASC X12 and WEDI have worked together, with other industry representatives, to develop a Companion Guide Principles document and an associated template for Transaction Instructions. Read more about the Joint Companion Guide Project.

Written permission of the copyright holders is required in the following situations:

• For any derivative work that will be distributed or made available outside the corporate structure of the organization
• To reproduce large portions of the material for any use
• For any use not in conformance with the statements below

Provided that the material is properly cited, see Citation Format below, written permission is not required in the following situations:

• To reproduce small portions of the material for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching or scholarship and research
• To reference codes, code descriptions, situational rules and other notes in internal implementation documents

All parties requesting permission to reproduce copyrighted material must follow the procedures listed below. The procedures apply to all draft, published, and withdrawn ASC X12 products. An ASC X12 “Product" is defined as anything resulting from the effort of the ASC X12 membership.

You may have up to 3 active review requests at any time. If you have more than 3 artifacts to submit, please allocate time for multiple review cycles. Distribution of materials, documents, or any other artifact that uses the ASC X12 copyrighted materials is prohibited until DISA formally grants permission for the use, electronically or in writing.

1.	Use the Request Permission Form found at the bottom of this page to submit your request to reproduce copyrighted ASC X12 materials to DISA. DISA also requires that you send advance copies of your artifacts to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the Subject line of "Request to Reproduce ASC X12 Copyrighted Materials: [[YOUR COMPANY NAME]]."
2.	DISA will review your submission and ensure that the ASC X12 material is compliant with applicable ASC X12 policies, including those detailed in the Supplemental Documents section on this page, accurate in the context presented and that the style requirements have been met. DISA agrees that the submission is considered confidential. It will be shared with designated reviewers, operating with non-disclosure practices, ensuring the submitted information remains confidential and is protected from inappropriate disclosure or distribution.
3.	Following review of the final product, DISA will make a determination of Permission. If Permission is granted, the requesting party will receive permission to cite the materials under the following conditions: This Permission is for the specific product submitted for review and use cited in this request. Permission is not granted for other products or use The cited material must include a statement referencing ASC X12's copyright and that explicit permission to cite the material was granted Revision of your artifacts previously granted permission to cite ASC X12 material will require a separate permission to cite Permissions are not transferable DISA reserves the right to revoke the permission for citations, if the preceding conditions are not met If Permission is not granted, the reasons will be conveyed electronically or in writing to the requesting party

The following sections detail the requirements for supplemental documents that use or cite ASC X12 materials.

Guidance for the Publication of ASC X12 TR3 Supplemental Documents

Overview

ASC X12 develops and publishes Products which are copyrighted and must be purchased by implementers and other interested parties.

Supplemental documents (SD) contain information for creating transactions for a specific trading partner based on an associated Product. Supplemental documents can include, but are not limited to spreadsheets, word documents, PDFs, web presentations, and help files.

A common type of SD, generally known as a Companion Guide, contains information for creating transactions for a specific trading partner based on associated ASC X12 Type 3 Technical Reports (TR3), also known as Implementation Guides (IG). Companion Guides must adhere to these ASC X12 IP policies.

Publishers of Supplemental Documents should use the following information to ensure that their documents do not violate ASC X12 IP Policy.

Purpose

This document is ASC X12's statement of limitations for SD content. It is intended to supplement, not replace or overrule, the associated copyrights and ASC X12's Fair Use statement. SD content must conform to the restrictions of this document to avoid infringing on ASC X12 copyrights and related intellectual property rights. This document does not address additional information that a trading partner may include in a SD that is unrelated to the Products but is related to the interchange of electronic information between the trading partners.

Supplemental Document Scope

SDs may contain supplemental information for one or more Products as limited by the guidelines listed below.

Once approval for use of ASC X12 materials has been granted; an organization may post a SD on their website for public reference.

No organization may post ASC X12 Standards, Technical Reports or any other official ASC X12 work products on their website for public reference at any time.

Supplemental Document Content Guidelines for TR3s

SDs must:

• Be used in conjunction with an associated TR3; they must not be stand-alone requirements documents.
• Conform to all the requirements of the associated TR3.
• Abide by ASC X12's Fair Use and Copyright statements.
• Use the full official name, including the unique identifier, at the first reference to any TR3.
  • TR3 example, ASC X12/005010X212 Health Care Claim Status Request and Response (276/277). If a shortened title will be used for any TR3, the first reference must include that shortened title.
    • The shortened title for secondary references may either be the unique identifier (example 005010X212) or the name (example: Health Care Claim Status Request and Response) of the TR3.
• Include a statement about where to purchase the underlying TR3 and the associated URL.
  • Example: The ASC X12 TR3s that detail the full requirements for these transactions are available at http://store.x12.org/store/

SDs may:

• Include trading partner-specific requirements that clarify the TR3 instructions, where specifically permitted by this document. Trading partner specific instructions may be used to:
  • Clarify a TR3 example, based on proprietary instructions.
  • Add examples specific to proprietary instructions.
  • Clarify specific processing intentions related to TR3 requirements.
  • Example: Clarification that one or more codes from the TR3 code list is preferred or not processed.
    • "Not processed" means it will not be recognized in internal processing, it does not mean the transaction can be rejected if the specified code is present.
    • "Preferred" means that internal processes expect that specific value to be transmitted.
  • Example: Clarification of the use of loops/segments/elements in the TR3 identified by situational rules stating trading partner requirements control usage:
    • "Required when the payer's adjudication is known to be impacted?"
    • "Required when such transmission is required under the insurance contract?"
  • Indicate the number of repetitions actually used within the transaction processing application for loops or segments without repetition limitations in the TR3.
• Identify necessary trading partner information to initiate or enable the communications between trading partners.
• Include the information from ASC X12 Requests for Interpretation (RFI) as a reference for trading partner specific instructions as long as the RFI is explicitly referenced. RFIs are found at: www.x12.org/x12org/subcommittees/x12rfi.cfm.

SDs must not:

• Be a material duplication of the associated TR3.
• Contradict, countermand or duplicate any requirement of the associated TR3.
• Contain material duplication of a section of the associated TR3, unless a citation approval has been issued by ASC X12.
• Include tutorial information about ASC X12 syntax, the underlying transaction set or related transaction sets.
• Include tutorial information about the use and interpretation of an TR3.
• Add, modify or delete any defining, explanatory, or clarifying content (Section 1), example (Sections 2 and 3) or Appendix (Section 4) information.
• Add, modify or delete any requirements, including loop, segment or element names, notes or rules, examples, appendix, or code list subsets from Section 2.
• Use the unique identifier listed in GS08 unless the transaction conforms to the requirements documented in the associated TR3, within the parameters of the Compliance in X12 document.

Supplemental Document Content Guidelines for all other Products

SDs must:

• Be used in conjunction with an associated ASC X12 work product; they must not be stand-alone requirements documents.
• Conform to all the requirements of the associated ASC X12 work product.
• Abide by ASC X12's Fair Use and Copyright statements.
• Use the full official name, including the unique identifier if applicable, at the first reference to any ASC X12 work product.
  • For example, ASC X12 006040 837 Health Care Claim. If a shortened title will be used for any TR3, the first reference must include the shortened title to be used.
• Include a statement about where to purchase the underlying Standard or Technical Report and the associated URL.
  • Example: The ASC X12 Standard that detail the full requirements for these transactions is available at http://store.x12.org/store/

SDs may:

• Include trading partner-specific requirements that clarify the ASC X12 instructions, where specifically permitted by this document. Trading partner specific instructions may be used to:
  • Clarify an example, based on proprietary instructions.
  • Add examples specific to proprietary instructions.
  • Clarify specific processing intentions.
  • Example: Clarification that one or more codes from the TR3 code list is preferred or not processed.
    • "Not processed" means it will not be recognized in internal processing, it does not mean the transaction can be rejected if the specified code is present.
    • "Preferred" means that internal processes expect that specific value to be transmitted.
  • Example: Clarification of the use of loops/segments/elements:
  • Indicate the number of repetitions actually used within the transaction processing application for loops or segments.
  • Identify necessary trading partner information to initiate or enable the communications between trading partners.
• Include the information from ASC X12 Interpretation Requests (found at www.x12.org/x12org/subcommittees/x12rfi.cfm) as a reference for trading partner specific instructions, as long as the ASC X12 Interpretation is explicitly referenced.

SDs must not:

• Be a material duplication of the associated ASC X12 work product.
• Contradict, countermand or duplicate any requirement of the associated ASC X12 work product.
• Contain material duplication of a section of the associated ASC X12 work product, unless a citation approval has been issued by ASC X12.
• Include tutorial information about ASC X12 syntax, the underlying transaction set or related transaction sets.
• Add, modify or delete any defining, explanatory, or clarifying content, example or Appendix information.
• Add, modify or delete any requirements, including loop, segment or element names, notes or rules, examples, appendix, or code list subsets.

The basic style below is adapted from the Modern Language Association (MLA) Style Manual and by convention includes line breaks and an indent for each successive line:

Author Name. "Title: Subtitle, Figure number, 
	if appropriate, Segment ID - Name, if appropriate." 
	Title of Book, identifier.
	Publisher, Date of publication. <URL>. Page Number(s).

Examples

If someone wants to reproduce figure 1.1 of 005010X221, the choices are:

Place a footnote reference number in relation to the reproduced figure and place the following as the footnote, or place the following directly below the figure:

Accredited Standards Committee X12, Insurance
	Subcommittee, ASC X12N. "1.4.1 Information Flows, Fig. 1.1." 
	Health Care Claim Payment/Advice (835), 005010X221. 
	Washington Publishing Company, Apr. 2006.
	<http://www.wpc-edi.com>. 3.

Or place in-line with their text an abbreviated citation:

The 835 presents an "Information Flow" figure, reproduced below, illustrating the flow of information from payer to payee (005010X221 1).

The style above requires that a works-cited list be created and placed at the end of the document. Each citation is assigned a number. In the example above, the 1 refers to the first citation in the list; which appears in the works cited list like this:

1. Accredited Standards Committee X12, Insurance Subcommittee, ASC X12N. 
	"1.4.1 Information Flows, Fig. 1.1."  
	Health Care Claim Payment/Advice (835), 005010X221. 
	Washington Publishing Company, Apr. 2006.
	<http://www.wpc-edi.com>. 3.

A span of page numbers is appropriate when the quoted material is on consecutive pages. For example, to refer to the payer business contact information segment:

Accredited Standards Committee X12, Insurance Subcommittee, ASC X12N.
	"PER – Payer Business Contact Information."
	Health Care Claim Payment/Advice (835), 005010X221.
	Washington Publishing Company, Apr. 2006.
	<http://www.wpc-edi.com>. 94-96.

ASC X12
ASC X12 is an ANSI Accredited Standards Committee ("ASC") for the cross-industry development, maintenance, and publication of electronic data exchange standards, based on, but not limited to ASC X12 EDI, XML, and UN/EDIFACT formats. ASC X12 defines requirements of electronic business document content, and serves as a key player in international forums by contributing to the universal core component work and message design architecture. These key ASC X12 initiatives propose to create new and improved forms of data sharing, enhance business processes, reduce costs, and expand organizations' reach.

Implementation Guide
Instructions for using an ASC X12 standard transaction for a specific business purpose. These instructions will promote consistent and uniform implementations between trading partners.

Supplemental Document
Supplemental information for creating transactions for a specific trading partner, while ensuring compliance with the associated ASC X12 implementation guide

X12N
Insurance Subcommittee, the subcommittee of ASC X12 that defines EDI standards for the insurance industry

1. Q: I want to send an ASC X12 Technical Report, Type 3 (Implementation Guide) to my trading partners, is this allowed?
   A: No, unless you have a formal agreement with DISA on behalf of ASC X12, you cannot share a legally purchased TR3 with external organizations. Each organization needs to have their own legally purchased copy.
   
   
2. Q: How can I obtain permission to distribute an ASC X12 Technical Report, Type 3 (Implementation Guide) to my trading partners?
   A: You may submit a request to be licensed to distribute a specific number of TR3s outside of your own organization. There will be a fee involved in such a distribution arrangement.
   
   
3. Q: I created a proprietary companion guide with instructions supplemental to the ASC X12 TR3, can I post my document on the internet for public viewing?
   A: If DISA has given written permission for use of ASC X12 intellectual property in your companion guide, you may post your document on your internet site.
   
   
4. Q: Are these rules only for documents related to implementation guides, or Technical Reports, Type 3?
   A: No, these rules apply to use of all copyrighted ASC X12 materials, including the Standards and associated products.