The Latest from PEPPOL for e-Invoicing for 2019 and Beyond

2019 has been a year of change in terms of e-invoicing across the globe where the European standard on public sector e-invoicing and PEPPOL have played major role. Update yourself with the information you need to ensure your organisation is prepared for changes that may affect how you do business.

PEPPOL Updates with Regards to European Standard on public e-invoicing

European public entities performing public procurement cannot reject any e-invoice compliant to norm semantics including PEPPOL BIS billing 3.0 from their suppliers after 18th April 2019. However, it is not mandatory for them to receive these via the PEPPOL network.

An upgrade to single PEPPOL BIS billing 3.0 profile in the PEPPOL network is planned that is compliant to norm semantics and syntax from current PEPPOL BIS billing (5a) 2.0 and PEPPOL BIS invoice only (4a) 2.0 profiles.

Belgium is using PEPPOL BIS profiles as-is and will be upgrading to PEPPOL BIS billing 3.0 as-is.

All PEPPOL participants were required to register with PEPPOL BIS billing 3.0 through PEPPOL Access points starting 18 April 2019.

Decommissioning of PEPPOL BIS billing (5A) 2.0 and PEPPOL BIS invoice only (4a) 2.0 profiles from the PEPPOL network are required by 31 December 2019.

A provision has been added for adding supplier country rules within PEPPOL BIS billing 3.0 to reduce different profiles per country. For instance, Norway, Sweden, Italy and Denmark have added country rules in PEPPOL BIS billing 3.0.

There will be support for second syntax CII (Cross Industry Invoice) permitted by European standard for e-invoicing.

PEPPOL has been exchanging UBL based business documents, but it also produced PEPPOL BIS 3.0 mapping with CII and its profile registration support in SMPs to be compliant with EN.

Though, it won’t be advertised much due to UBL being more widely used over CII in practice, it will enable countries supporting CII to use PEPPOL as well.

This leads to increased reachability of the PEPPOL network and PEPPOL BIS billing 3.0 format across Europe and the globe where Basware plays a vital role as PEPPOL Access Point service provider by having more participants from PEPPOL enabled countries and by gaining new countries who adopt PEPPOL.

  • Norway already has approximately 140,000 public as well private PEPPOL participants and will still be expanding during 2019.

  • Swedish public entities are being registered in PEPPOL with BIS v3 in 2019, followed by private sector, as well.

  • Finland public sector will be using FICIUS (Teapps 3.0 and Finvoice 3.0) though it is expected to accept “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3” as well.

  • Belgium already has an average of 250 public entities enabled in PEPPOL and it will be registering all approximately 6,000 public entities during 2019, followed by private sector, too.

  • UK is already PEPPOL enabled via NHS. We’ll watch this development in 2019.

  • Ireland is already PEPPOL enabled and public entities enabled with “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3” during 2019.

  • Denmark has covered Nemhandel platform and SKI framework legally with PEPPOL and the public entities will be registered in PEPPOL network with “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3” profile during April 2019. The private sector is expected to take some time in switching from OIOUBL to “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3.”

  • Netherlands PEPPOL participants getting enabled with both “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3” as well as SI-UBL 2.0 (NLCIUS) during 2019.

  • Luxembourg is already reachable via PEPPOL for all public entities.

  • France has changed their PEPPOL access point service provider which connects Chorus pro to PEPPOL and live with PEPPOL BIS version 3.0 support.

  • Germany public sector participants will be registered with both “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3” as well as XRechnung (DECIUS) however it is progressing slower than expected.

  • Austria public sector is already enabled on PEPPOL though through only 1 endpoint and will be receiving new BIS v3.

  • Estonia will be accepting “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3” primarily and public entities are expected to be enabled in PEPPOL during April 2019, followed by the private sector.

  • Lithuania an eDelivery project partially financed by INEA with a consortium of private companies is establishing an independent PEPPOL eDelivery Access Point.

  • Poland public entities have mostly been enabled in the PEPPOL network with “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3” to receive these through a centralised e-invoicing platform.

  • Slovenia is enabling budget users and other contracting authorities as well over PEPPOL network with “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3” profile along with e-SLOG 2.0 (National CIUS).

  • Italy is the first country with clearance model in PEPPOL network. The Region of Emilia Romagna PEPPOL participants being migrated to “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3.”

  • Singapore launched PEPPOL e-invoicing already in January 2019 where Basware played an important role.

  • Australia and New Zealand adopting PEPPOL by end of 2019 and Basware is key player in the initiative.

Basware prepares for the European standard for e-invoicing through PEPPOL

“PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3” capabilities and relevant transformations between current supported PEPPOL BIS and EHF billing family document versions and new “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3” to support the implementation of the Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing and the eGovernment Program - Digital Agenda 2015-2016 for Norway have been implemented by Basware in its network with financial support from the European Union with other consortium members being Difi, Visma, Logiq, IBX, Xledger and 24SevenOffice so that customers transacting electronic invoices via the Basware network can continue their business without interruptions throughout 2019.

Since the older “PEPPOL BIS Invoice 4a Version 2” and “PEPPOL BIS Billing 5a Version 2” will only be supported as optional standards until December 31, 2019. In order to not get left behind during the transition, we recommend customers switch to “PEPPOL BIS Billing Version 3” as soon as possible. Basware Network will still support PEPPOL BIS version 2.0 for H1 2020 and transform with PEPPOL BIS version 3.0 for best scenarios before you migrate to PEPPOL BIS version 3.0.

How can Basware help?

If you’re doing global business and want to ensure your company is compliant with upcoming or potential e-invoicing and GDPR requirements, we’re here to help. Basware is a global leader in purchase to pay with a variety of e-invoicing functionalities available. We also work closely with our global partners to keep up-to-date with the developments regarding regulations to make sure our customers remain compliant with e-invoicing processes worldwide.

To learn more, check out PayStream Advisors’ Global AP Automation report to learn more about ensuring global compliance with e-invoicing.