FAQ - Peppol

Peppol is an organization that publishes and maintains a set of rules and standards for the exchange of business information.

Peppol originated from a European project set up to design and facilitate eProcurement with government agencies. It soon became clear that the e-invoice message was the most important and impactful message from the process. The project evolved into a European platform for the exchange of electronic invoices with public companies. Companies saw the added value and wanted to extend Peppol's capabilities to other trading partners.

Meanwhile, the Peppol network is used for Business-to-Government, as well as Business-to-Business. In addition, Peppol has also grown beyond the European borders, the platform is now also used by companies and governments on the other continents.

More information can be found here.

The biggest advantage of Peppol is that once you, as a company, are connected to the Peppol network, you can immediately exchange messages with any other party that is also connected to Peppol without any additional setup; and worldwide.

The Peppol network carries security as a high priority. Each recipient on the network is identified and registered with a Peppol ID based on a unique identifier, such as a KBO number (in Belgium) or KVK number (in the Netherlands).

By using status messages, you as the sender can also always be sure that your messages have arrived at the recipient.

To connect to Peppol, you need to use a certified Peppol Access Point. This involves:

• Registering your organization on the Peppol network.
• Integrating your invoicing or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system with the Access Point.
• Ensuring your documents follow Peppol Business Interoperability Specifications (BIS) standards.

Once connected, you can send and receive structured e-documents securely across the network. You can get started by contacting Descartes for onboarding and integration support.

A Peppol Access Point is a service provider that allows other companies to access and connect to the Peppol network. Companies wishing to send messages through Peppol must register through an Access Point anywhere in the world. All Access Points interconnect with each other to form the Peppol network.

The Access Point acts as the traffic controller, so to speak, relaying messages to the recipient's Access Point.

To operate as an Access Point, service providers must certify through a Peppol authority. Descartes has a certified Access Point and is thus connected to all other Peppol Access Points worldwide.

SMP stands for Service Metadata Publisher. Peppol SMP is a party that keeps a record of each recipient's address information on the Peppol network, what Access Point they use and what messages they can receive.

SML stands for Service Metadata Locator. Peppol SML contains the identification numbers of all receivers present on the network, as well as in which SMP the detail information can be found.

The availability of the SMP and SML are important components for the operation of the Peppol network. Indeed, parties must be findable in the SMP registry through the SML.

As a certified Service Provider, Descartes has its own SMP in addition to its own Access Point. Consequently, Descartes maintains a list of all parties registered as recipients through Descartes.

Each country provides its own Peppol authority that assumes responsibility for designating local Access Points.

The coordination of all appointments and management of the global network is done by OpenPeppol. They delegate some of their tasks to national authorities.

UBL stands for Universal Business Language and is the message standard used as the basis for ensuring interoperability through Peppol. The SMP records which versions are used by the various trading partners.

Most ERPs or accounting packages today are able to deliver messages, such as invoices, in a UBL format. However, if this is not provided, Descartes can offer mappings to convert the format that is available to the correct UBL format.

A Peppol ID is the number with which companies are identified on Peppol. The application for a Peppol ID must be done via an Access Point and is based on official unique characteristics such as a KBO number in Belgium or the Chamber of Commerce number in the Netherlands. Without a Peppol ID you cannot exchange messages via Peppol. Descartes is a certified Peppol Service Provider and can handle the request for a Peppol ID if you want to communicate from your ERP to the Peppol network. This replaces manually entering invoices into another website that converts them to Peppol invoices.

Peppol e-invoices are structured and machine-readable, allowing for automated processing, reduced manual errors, enhanced security, and traceability. 

On the other hand, PDF invoices are unstructured and often require manual entry or optical character recognition (OCR) capability, which might lead to inefficiencies and errors. 

If the companies you work with are not yet using Peppol, you can still exchange documents with them through alternative formats such as PDFs or other electronic channels. Many systems support hybrid solutions that allow you to send Peppol-compliant invoices, which are then converted into formats your partners can accept.  

However, it’s important to note that Peppol is expected to become mandatory across much of Europe in the near future, particularly for public sector transactions and increasingly for B2B exchanges. Encouraging your partners to begin their own transition to Peppol can help ensure smoother collaboration and long-term compliance.

Peppol’s standards are designed to ensure traceability and auditability, which is why it typically requires one invoice per transaction. This can be a challenge for businesses that are used to sending grouped or batch invoices. However, there are a few ways to manage this.  

If local tax regulations permit, you might be able to issue summary invoices that consolidate multiple transactions into a single document, though this must still conform to Peppol’s structure.  

Alternatively, you can include references within each invoice to related transactions or orders, helping to maintain a logical connection between them. Automating the generation of individual invoices from grouped data can also streamline the process, ensuring compliance without adding significant manual effort. 

Yes, you can attach a PDF document when sending an e-invoice via Peppol. The Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 standard allows you to include additional documents like timesheets, reports, or other supporting materials with your e-invoice. These documents can be attached as embedded binary content (PDFs) or external links. These attachments are optional and must be accepted by by prior agreement with the receiving party. 

If your current accounting system doesn’t support structured formats like extensible markup language (XML) or universal business language (UBL), you have two main options: 

• Firstly, you can use a web-based Peppol solution that allows you to manually create and send invoices through a certified access point. This is often the simplest and most cost-effective approach for businesses with a low volume of invoices.  

• Secondly, you can adopt an accounting or ERP system that is compatible with structured e-invoicing. Once that system is in place, you can integrate it with a Peppol access point to automate your invoicing processes.  

It’s important to note that converting from unstructured formats like PDF or Word to structured formats is not supported, as this would require manual interpretation of invoice data. 

If either the sender or the recipient of an invoice is located outside of Belgium, structured e-invoicing is only permitted if the recipient agrees to it. This means that while you can still use Peppol or other structured formats, you must ensure that your international partners consent to receiving invoices in this way. This flexibility allows for gradual adoption across borders while respecting the legal frameworks of different countries. 

In Belgium, the ecotax- such as the one applied to electronic goods for recycling or disposal purposes- can be included in your e-invoices by using custom tax fields. These fields must be properly configured in your invoicing or ERP system to reflect the specific tax codes and amounts associated with the ecotax.  

When generating Peppol invoices, these values need to be mapped accurately into the structured format to ensure compliance with Belgian tax regulations. It’s important to verify that your invoicing software supports these customizations and that the tax is clearly itemized on the invoice.