EESPA and OpenPEPPOL issue paper on invoicing directive

EESPA and OpenPEPPOL are concerned by the provision in the Directive 2014/55/EU that all public sector contracting authorities (over 300,000 in Europe have been mentioned) will need to be able to receive electronic invoices expressed in any of a list of up to four syntaxes (technical languages) to be recommended by CEN TC 434 during the preparation of the standard for a European core invoice.

EESPA and OpenPEPPOL expect the burden of imposing such a requirement on all public authorities is a massive challenge, many of which will be embracing e-invoicing for the first time as the Directive is implemented.
EESPA and OpenPEPPOL recommend that CEN TC 434 and its affiliated National Standards Organisations give consideration to recommending a Plan A proposal in which contracting entities would only be required to support a maximum of two syntaxes on the receiving side.

Also, in the event of CEN TC 434 recommending a wider List of Syntaxes that the Commission takes forward an initiative to implement a Plan B, under which Member States are granted a derogation to allow contracting entities to specify to invoice senders one or more of the listed syntaxes in which they are prepared to receive and process electronic invoices.

EESPA, the European E-Invoicing Service Providers Association, is an international not-for-profit trade association. Members of EESPA share a common vision and a commitment to supporting the adoption of e-invoicing.