What is Peppol?

E-invoicing is now the future of commerce and fiscal management, and an increasing number of countries around the world are adopting it as mandatory. Recently, the Australian Government has adopted the international e-invoicing Peppol standard, becoming the common format for exchanging electronic documents.

Therefore, given the latest law developments, all companies regardless of their size, must have the tools to smooth the path towards a more automated way of processing their data. Thanks to Peppol, sending and receiving electronic invoices quickly, securely, and standardized with companies around the world is now a reality.

Do you want to know more about this digital revolution? Read on and we’ll tell you all about it.

What is Peppol?

Peppol (Pan European Public Procurement) is an international network that allows companies around the world to exchange electronic documents securely, easily, and according to a common standard, adapted to the needs of each country. The European Commission launched it in 2008 as a pilot project.

Therefore and according to its website peppol.org, Peppol is not an e-procurement platform, but it provides a set of technical specifications that companies can implement in their existing e-procurement solutions and e-commerce exchange services. This implementation makes these solutions and services interoperable between disparate systems in Europe and around the world. Overall, the PEPPOL network facilitates the exchange of standards-based electronic documents between trading partners.

Moreover, behind Peppol, there is the OpenPeppol Association, a non-profit organization with members from both the public and private sectors. Its objective is to enable European companies to easily engage in electronic negotiations with any European public sector purchaser during their procurement processes. This increases opportunities for greater competition for public contracts and ensures better value for taxpayers’ money. To this end, the OpenPeppol Association serves as a benchmark, guaranteeing the quality of standards and technologies.

How does Peppol e-invoicing works?

This is an interesting point, Peppol’s operation is based on the fact that any company registered in this secure network can communicate with any other company regardless of its location. This is achieved thanks to Peppol’s four corners model, which makes communications between all participants compatible, even if they are from different countries. Let’s see how it works:

• Corner 1: Is the sender of the invoice.
• Corner 2: This is the Peppol Access Point, where the issuer of the electronic invoices (or other documents) is registered.
• Corner 3: This is the Peppol Access Point, where the receiver of the electronic invoices (or other documents) is registered.
• Corner 4: This is the invoice receiver.

Other interesting points about how the Peppol network works:

• To access Peppol, companies must register with a certified Access Point, which guarantees security and compliance with internal rules.
• The sender and receiver can use the same Peppol Access Point or a different one at their convenience.
• The Peppol Access Point registers the participants (organizations sending or receiving electronic documents) and their capabilities (documents and communications they can handle).

What are the benefits of using the Peppol directory?

Companies and organizations using the Peppol network benefit from its numerous advantages. The growing number of countries adopting mandatory electronic invoicing with Peppol standards and processes serves as evidence. For instance:

• Peppol provides an open, secure, and standardized environment (utilizing the UBL format) that enables companies to exchange electronic documents such as invoices, orders, and delivery notes with any participant. This exchange can take place both nationally and internationally, including with the Public Administration of countries within the European Union and other regions worldwide.
• Moreover, the Peppol network effectively mitigates risks related to identity theft, document forgery, and other digital scams through its imposition of rules and validations.

How to register on the Peppol network?

To use Peppol, a company must register with a certified Peppol Access Point. B2Brouter is one of them and allows you to send free electronic invoices, through Peppol, to other national companies.

Besides, it is important to note that to access the Peppol network, you must register at an Access Point with a service provider. You cannot access Peppol directly.

Once registered in an Access Point, you must inform your Peppol identifier. This identifier can be your company identifier (NIF) and acts as a document routing code, so that transactions reach the correct recipient.

How to send a Peppol e-invoicing to Australia ?

To start e-invoicing, your software needs to be connected to the Peppol network where eInvoices are delivered securely by Australian Taxation Office (ATO) approved service providers.

After registering at a certified Peppol Access Point and registering your Peppol ID, you can start sending your e-invoices. To do so, you have to consider the following:

• The format used in the Peppol network is UBL. This means that you must generate and send your electronic documents in this format.
• In the electronic documents you send, you must always include the Peppol ID of the recipient. This allows your electronic documents to be transferred correctly.

B2Brouter Certified Peppol Access Point

We, at B2Brouter, are committed to progress and to offer quality technologies to our customers. Access Peppol easily, free (national shipments) and securely with B2Brouter, one of the first certified Peppol Access Points.

With our solution, you can manage your invoices and electronic documents from the online application, or you can also integrate your management system or ERP to automate all the processes of issuing and receiving, as well as the exchange of status changes of your invoices and other documents.