PEPPOL, kurz für “Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line” has been growing in popularity over the last few years.
With e-invoicing becoming more important for businesses in Europe and beyond, Peppol’s service is becoming more relevant.
It seems that sending invoices electronically is slowly becoming a worldwide legal obligation. And, with Covid-19 forcing workers to stay at home in 2020, many companies have already switched to e-invoicing. Because e-invoicing has made physical contact between people — spreading germs, etc — less important.
Furthermore, the many benefits of e-invoicing (saving time, money, and resources) mean that Peppol is constantly growing in relevance.
If you want some simple explanations about what Peppol is, what it does, and how it can help your business, then read on!
What is Peppol?
Peppol is a network for the exchange of electronic invoices and documents online.
The reason Peppol was developed was to help simplify the process of billing and invoicing between governments and businesses – especially internationally.
Peppol provides both an agreed-upon platform and an agreed-upon format for companies and governments to exchange documents.
Peppol also provides a much more secure exchange platform when compared with emails or other methods. Because all of Peppol’s participating members must be legitimate organisations.
(Also, the platform itself ensures that all documents sent through it are virus-free and safe from hackers, etc.)
What is the Peppol Network?
The Peppol Network is the web that connects all the participating Peppol members together.
In the same way that the internet is a “web” to connect all websites, the Peppol network connects all of its members. Public authorities, businesses, entrepreneurs — if they are members of the Peppol Network, they can safely send and receive documents to and from each other.
Once you are signed up to the Peppol network, you can then exchange documents with other members of the Peppol network in an easy, safe, and secure manner.
What is a Peppol Access Point?
A Peppol Access Point is a service provider who is certified to give companies or public authorities access to the Peppol network.
In the same way that companies such as T-Mobile provide customers with access to the mobile network, Peppol Access Points provide companies/governments with access to the Peppol Network.
Some companies and government bodies set up their own, private Peppol Access points.
But other companies and governments access Peppol via established access points, such as Invoice-Portal.
What is Open Peppol?
Open PEPPOL ist ein internationaler Zusammenschluss von Mitgliedern des PEPPOL-Netzwerks.
Der Verband unterhält, entwickelt und programmiert PEPPOL-Dienste. Diese Dienste umfassen das Netzwerk selbst, die PEPPOL Access Points und die PEPPOL-Nutzer. Der Verein arbeitet für Europa und alle weltweiten PEPPOL-Nutzer.
Das Invoice-Portal ist Mitglied von Open PEPPOL. Sie können über unsere Software kostenlos einen zertifizierten Zugang zum PEPPOL-Netzwerk erhalten.
Wenn Sie Mitglied bei Open PEPPOL werden möchten, können Sie sich direkt an PEPPOL wenden: info@peppol.eu
Was is a Peppol-ID?
A Peppol Participant ID is the unique identification of each organization connected to the Peppol Network.
A good comparison to make would be to somebody’s phone number.
In the mobile network, your phone number is how people can identify and send you messages. In the Peppol Network, an organization’s Peppol Participant ID is what you would use to send documents to the organization you need to.
All members of the Peppol Network have a Peppol Participant IDs, and it is not possible to participate in the network without one.
How does Peppol work?
The Peppol Network can be explained with an extremely simple model: The Four Corner Model:
It couldn’t be much simpler.
And the Peppol Network uses high-level technologies that are secure from hackers and other potentially problematic digital pests.
As a result, the Peppol Network provides a better service than manually sending e-invoices to clients via email or by a basic CRM (Customer Resource Management) system.
What is Peppol BIS?
Peppol BIS is the overarching invoicing standard that organizations must comply to. If organizations do not comply to this standard, then they will not be able to send or receive documents through the Peppol Network.
The reason such standards are so important are as a result of the E.U’s ‘ Directive 2014/55/EU’, which made it a legal obligation for companies sending invoices to governmental bodies to do so in compliance with a particular standard – a standard called ‘EN-16931’.
Peppol BIS is a standard that complies with the EN-16931 standard.
And, due to the practical strengths of Peppol, many countries have created their own e-invoices to be compliant with Peppol BIS and (on the deeper level) the EN-16931 standard. Other examples of invoicing standards compliant with this include XRechnung and ZUGFeRD.
Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia have all created Peppol frameworks unique to their countries (and their unique taxing systems, etc). Rumor has it that Canada and the United States are also in the process of creating Peppol frameworks. Therefore, it seems quite likely that the Peppol network is going to boom in popularity in the coming years.
Why should you use Peppol?
Peppol is already accepted throughout Europe as a legally-compliant standard that provides a secure platform for the exchange of invoices.
And its influence is spreading beyond Europe. Therefore, Peppol is clearly becoming a significant player in the e-invoicing world.
Moreover, many organizations are now making it an obligation for invoices to be sent to them through Peppol – and this is becoming the case more and more as time goes on.
If you are a company or public authority that has to send e-invoices compliant with specific standards, then the chances are very high that joining the Peppol Network would be of huge benefit to you.
Using Peppol enables you to:
What are the advantages of Peppol?
What are the disadvantages of Peppol?
Who uses Peppol?
According to peppol.eu, there are Peppol members in 39 countries throughout the world – 31 European countries plus Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, and USA.
Furthermore, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (the NHS) made invoicing through Peppol the standard for their own procedures.
Throughout these 39 countries and beyond, there are more than 2 million organizations signed up to the Peppol network.
To find out if your client is part of the Peppol Network, you can use our Peppol Participant ID checker.
Who can I send e-invoices to with Peppol?
Simply put, you can send e-invoices to anybody who is a member of the Peppol Network. As mentioned previously, there are more than 2 million member organizations in Peppol throughout 39 countries.
This includes companies, government agencies, and public authorities. Again, if you want to know whether or not your client is part of the Peppol network, you can use our Peppol Participant ID checker here.
Can I receive e-invoices with Peppol?
Of course you can. You can both send and receive e-invoices using Peppol.
Can Peppol be used worldwide?
As long as members use document standards that are compliant with Peppol BIS, then anybody – from anywhere in the world – can use Peppol.
However, many countries are not using e-invoicing standards that are compliant with Peppol BIS, so if you are processing e-invoicing in such countries then the use of Peppol is probably not appropriate for your business.
What will the future of Peppol look like?
Nobody can say for sure what the future holds for e-invoicing.
But the trends are clear. More and more countries are implementing legislation that makes e-invoicing standards an obligation – and the Peppol BIS standard is setting a wonderful example for such legislation.
But it would be far much great of a leap to suggest that Peppol will one day become a global standard for invoicing. After all, South American countries seem to have zero interest in implementing such legislation (for the time being).
However, more than 130 million invoices were processed through Peppol Access Points in the tax year 2019/2020 – a huge number!
It seems likely that the number will only grow in future because more and more countries standardize their e-invoicing processes to the Peppol format.
The future is uncertain, as ever. But Peppol appears well placed to play a significant part in the future of e-invoicing.
How do I join the Peppol network?
You have two options:
1. Become a Peppol Service Provider yourself:
Becoming a Peppol Service Provider is a fairly long process and most businesses don’t have time to run such operations.
But if you process a significantly high number of e-invoices, then it might be worthwhile for you to set one up yourself.
2. Register with a Peppol Access Point:
This is the fastest, and easiest option.
There are businesses dedicated to providing Peppol services, including access to the Peppol Network.
For example, Invoice-Portal is a certified Peppol Access Point and offers some Peppol access (and other services) free of charge:
Phone: +49 561-56014568
Email: info@invoice-portal.de
