Abstract In industry the use of electronic data interchange (EDI) is growing, especially for complex product data. This paper describes some EDI developments in the European Aerospace industry, associated with AECMA (the Association of European Aerospace Industries). It explains why EDI is important for Aerospace industry, and in which areas it is used. The second part of this paper discusses the AECMA development for product structure data interchange, as little is known about international development in this field. The interchange standard is fully described in the ABC (Aerospace Business Communications) Guidelines.