Introduction to the Connecting Europe Facility

eInvoicing building block

DIGIT September 2016

Directorate-General for Informatics
DG CONNECT
Directorate-General for Communications
Networks, Content and Technology
DG GROW
The Directorate-General (DG) for Internal
Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs

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 DISCLAIMER

This document is for informational purposes only and the

Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be
made of the information contained therein. References to legal acts
or documentation of the European Union (EU) cannot be perceived
as amending legislation in force or other EU documentation.

The document contains a brief overview of technical nature and is

not supplementing or amending terms and conditions of any
procurement procedure; therefore, no compensation claim can be
based on the contents of the present document.

Introduction to the Connecting Europe Facility eInvoicing building block

Created by: CEF eInvoicing

DOCUMENT HISTORY

Version Date Modified by Short Description of Changes

1.02 30/03/2016 CEF eInvoicing Published

1.3 31/08/2016 CEF PAO Quality review

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Table of contents

Page
number

1 Introduction 5

2 Context 11

3 Motivation 14

4 Services 20

5 Technical Specifications 25

6 Implementations 27

7 CEF Support 29

8 Definitions 31

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Audience

This document describes the Electronic Invoicing (eInvoicing) building block

(see section 8, Definitions) which is one of the Connecting Europe Facility
(CEF) Digital programme's essential digital services. These essential digital
services, called building block Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) will play
a vital role in the flow of data across borders and sectors.

This document is intended for the following audiences:

Public Administrations Solution Providers

involved in the roll out of EU or involved in the design, operation,

national policies relating to implementation and roll-out of
eInvoicing. eInvoicing.

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in the document is correct,
any comments on it should be submitted to the European Commission:
CEF-BUILDING-BLOCKS@ec.europa.eu

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Y Introduction
1 What is CEF eInvoicing?

5
Introduction to CEF eInvoicing

eInvoicing represents a clear example of how digital innovation can provide

efficiencies and cost-cutting measures of tangible benefit to public
administrations, citizens and businesses throughout Europe. Since 2001, European
legislation has given electronic invoices legal equivalence with their paper
counterparts.
However, in recent years, the proliferation of A chronology of CEF eInvoicing
eInvoicing standards and syntaxes
coexisting in the Member States led to 2014 Q1
increased complexity in term of cross-border
Q2 CEN begins the
interoperability. Additionally, the take-up of
eInvoices
electronic invoices in public administrations is Q3 European
still rather low despite the many benefits Standard
offered (savings, simplification, etc.). Q4 definition

As a consequence, the European Parliament 2015 Q1

and Council voted on the 16th of April 2014 Q2

Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing
in public procurement. The Directive calls for Q3
the definition of a common European
Q4
standard at semantic level and additional
standardisation deliverables which will enhance 2016 Q1
interoperability at the syntax level.
Q2
Additionally, it will become mandatory for all
Q3
contracting authorities and contracting entities
to receive and process eInvoices complying Q4 eInvoices
with the European standard, starting in European
November 2018. 2017 Q1 Standard
published on the
Q2 Official Journal
The definition of the eInvoicing European
standard will be carried out by CEN , a Q3
European Standardisation Organisation; CEN
will use the work of existing standardisation Q4
initiatives such as CEN BII workshops
agreement or European Multi-stakeholder 2018 Q1
Forum on eInvoicing recommendations as a Q2 All Member
baseline. States central
Q3 administrations
comply with
The European Commission shall assist CEN in eInvoicing
the European standard definition, and provide Q4
Directive
guidance to Member States in the
2019 Q1
implementation of the Directive. These actions
will be funded by the Connecting Europe Facility Q2 All Member
(CEF) through a work programme of 9 million States local
Q3 administrations
over 4 years. comply with
This action will be undertaken by the eInvoicing Q4 eInvoicing
building block Digital Service Infrastructure Directive
(DSI).

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Introduction to CEF eInvoicing

The purpose of the eInvoicing building block is to promote the uptake and
accelerate the use of eInvoicing respecting the European standard, amongst
both public and private entities established in the EU, as well as in
participating EEA countries.

The purpose of this document is to

More information about the CEF Telecom policy
provide a general introduction to the background, its Work Programmes and related
eInvoicing building block of CEF information is available on the Digital Agenda
website.
Telecom.
The CEF building blocks are
reusable specifications, software More information about eInvoicing is available
on the CEF Digital Single Web Portal.
and services that will form part
of a wide variety of IT systems in
different policy domains of the
For information on the governance structure of
EU. CEF eInvoicing, please see the Non-paper on
the IT Governance of CEF Building Blocks
The promotion of common building
blocks is a way to lower barriers for
technical integration and provide
tried and tested solutions that will
speed up the delivery of Digital Public
Services in a cost efficient manner.
The technical management of the eInvoicing DSI is carried out by the
Directorate-General for Informatics (DIGIT ) of the European Commission.
Implementation of the EU policy directly related to eInvoicing is the
responsibility of the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROWTH ) of the European Commission.
The Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA ) is responsible for
the implementation of the CEF Telecom programme grants in cooperation
with the Commission.
The CEF building blocks are coordinated and managed by the Directorate-
General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT
r ) of the European Commission.

For questions concerning CEF eInvoicing, the European Commission

provides a single point of contact. Please see Chapter 6 of this
document for details.

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Introduction to CEF eInvoicing

The CEF eInvoicing building block serves to support public administrations in

complying with EU eInvoicing legislation, and helps solution providers adapt
their services accordingly. The eInvoicing building block therefore foresees
Administration to Business communication (A2B). However, eInvoicing can
also be used to enable Administration to Administration communication
(A2A).
Business to Business (B2B) and Citizen to Administration (C2A) or Citizen to
Business (C2B) are not foreseen in the context of the eInvoicing building
block.

B2B
A2A

A2B
Public
- Businesses
Authorities
B2A

A2C B2C
- -
C2A* C2B*

A = Public Administration
B = Business
C = Citizen
Citizens

Primary Scope

Secondary Scope

Out of Scope

* Through web-portals C2C

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Introduction to CEF eInvoicing

It is important to understand CEF eInvoicing in terms of its relationship with

the CEF eDelivery building block. While the eInvoicing building block
concerns electronic invoices as such, eDelivery is about transporting
messages. Therefore it is natural to "reuse" the eDelivery building block to
transport the electronic invoices.
eInvoicing in business specific application over eDelivery:

CEF eInvoicing DSI: cross-border exchange of invoices in digital format

Participant 1 Participant 2

Backend Backend

SEND RECEIVE
eDelivery eDelivery
node node
Role: Sending INTERNET Role: Receiving

Example of the technological foundation provided by the CEF eDelivery building block. Other
commercial solutions are available.

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Introduction to CEF eInvoicing

Below you will find a number of the benefits to both users and the wider
economy of adopting eInvoicing, especially concerning CEF eInvoicing:

BENEFITS

Reduce risks Reduce costs Improve market

eInvoices are easier to process, they reach the customer

faster and can be stored centrally at very low cost

Support the market upgrade to the European standard for

eInvoicing

Provide support in the implementation of EU eInvoicing

legislation

Faster payment by customers (such as public

administrations) through significantly reducing transit time

Quicker and cheaper processing as information in eInvoices

can be fed directly into payment and accounting systems

Help develop the European market by supporting solution

providers in their transactions with public authorities in the
context of new legislation

Public authorities and solution providers who utilise the

CEF eInvoicing building block, are also introduced to CEF
eDelivery and its benefits

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Y Context
2 What is the background of CEF eInvoicing?

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Context

The CEF eInvoicing building block has its roots in initiatives targeted at the
standardisation of electronic invoicing. Standard-based eInvoicing has
previously been implemented in projects such as the PEPPOL Large Scale
Pilot (LSP), which is now in full-scale production in the OpenPEPPOL
community. e-SENS (Electronic Simple European Networked Services) is also
piloting eInvoicing solutions in compliance with the European standard,
contributing further to the evolution of eInvoicing in Europe.

The CEN BII and CEN MUG

workshops* have addressed
interoperability issues (i.e.
compliance with the European The Pan-European Public Procurement
standard across borders in Online (PEPPOL) was an LSP of
eProcurement. It has been transferred to
different Member States), while the
the non-profit international association
European Multi-Stakeholder Forum OpenPEPPOL
on eInvoicing has exchanged
experiences and best practices to
facilitate the broad-scale adoption
of eInvoicing at both national and
European level.
Based on the results of these
efforts, the European Commission e-SENS was launched to consolidate,
elaborated Directive 2014/55/EU improve, and extend the technical
mandating the European Standards solutions developed by the thematic LSPs
Organisations (ESOs) to develop an
eInvoicing standard.

The main goals of the CEF eInvoicing building block will be to support the
implementation of this standard and the respect of this Directive by the
Member States.

*See agreement of CEN BII, CEN MUG workshops here

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Context

The eInvoicing building block was included in the CEF Telecom Work
Programme 2014 The operation of the eInvoicing core service platform is
therefore ensured for 4 years, until 2018, with a budget of 9 million.

Grants will be used to promote the uptake of eInvoicing. According to

the CEF regulation, the grants should not exceed 75% of the eligible costs.
Proposals can be submitted by one or more Member State(s) or a consortium
consisting of at least five entities from one or more Member State(s)
composed of public or private entities, at least half of which should be public.
These calls for proposals are available on the website of the Innovation and
Networks Executive Agency (INEA ).

In addition to these grants, support is provided to public administrations and

solution providers via a range of tools, services and specifications.

In this context, the European standard is an important element to which CEF

eInvocing contributes. Services are also provided around the standard.

It is important to clarify that through CEF, the Commission does not intend
to compete with the market and will not provide end-user solutions for the
provision of eInvoicing services.

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Y Motivation
3 Why should you use CEF eInvoicing?

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Motivation

In order to better grasp how eInvoicing works, how it can help, and to
better understand the remainder of the document, some definitions are
needed.

Why
GOALS
The high-level objectives your organisation can achieve through CEF
eInvoicing.
Example: for solution providers, receive support in offering products that
are compliant with the EU eInvoicing Directive.

How
USE CASES
A user-centric view of what users can achieve through CEF eInvoicing.
Example: support in application of eInvoicing regulation, acquisition of
eInvoicing by public administrations.

What
SERVICES
The list of services provided by CEF eInvoicing.
Example: a test infrastructure to be used to check a solutions compliance
against the European eInvoicing standard.

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Motivation
Goals Use cases Services

In recent decades, the proliferation of eInvoicing standards and syntaxes

coexisting in the Member States led to increased complexity in terms of
cross-border interoperability. Additionally, the take-up of electronic invoices
in some public administrations, especially those at local level, is still rather
low despite the many benefits offered (savings, simplification, etc.).

In line with the EU Directive on eInvoicing, the services provided by the

CEF eInvoicing building block work to ensure that:

European public administrations European solution providers offer

acquire and use an eInvoicing products compliant with the
solution eInvoicing Directive

CAPACITY BUILDING MARKET COMPLIANCE

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Motivation
Goals Use cases Services

The simple illustration below describes what it means for public

administrations to upgrade or to integrate their current invoicing processes
in order to align to the new European standard.

Flat ERP
Paper Files Formats

Today, the invoicing process between

companies and public administrations
alike is based on the exchange of
invoices in various formats.

<>
<> To adopt a harmonised invoicing process,
<> public administrations need to deploy
<> eInvoicing solutions allowing them to
<> process invoices following a common data
model.

Once public administrations are able to

adopt such a model, the electronic invoices
they process can be verified against the
European standard and, eventually, be
deemed as compliant.

Standard

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Motivation
Goals Use cases Services

The CEF eInvoicng building block offers support to both public

administrations (who have a legal obligation to comply with the European
eInvoicing Directive) and solution providers (who will benefit from adapting
their capabilities in line with the needs of public administrations).

The following section will look at the use cases (i.e. user centric views of
what CEF eInvoicing can offer / how it can help) in the context of the specific
users.

User PUBLIC SOLUTION

ADMINISTRATIONS PROVIDERS

Use Case Compliance with the EU Services ready for the new
Directive European standard

Description Public administrations have Solution providers will benefit

a legal obligation to accept from adapting their
electronic invoices in the capabilities in line with the
new European standard by need of public
November 2018, as defined administrations to comply
in the European eInvoicing with the European
Directive. eInvoicing Directive.

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Motivation
Goals Use cases Services
Below an overview is presented of the various services offered by the
eInvoicing building block and the benefits available to each user.
Compliance with the EU
Directive
Allows public administrations
WEBSITE to assess their situation
regarding eInvoicing and to
find solution providers who
can help them adopt an
eInvoicing solution
TEST Helps to ensure that the
INFRASTRUCTURE solutions benefiting
from grant-funding
comply with the
European standard by
providing a validation
platform
SUPPORT A dedicated helpdesk
provides a single point
of contact for support
CONNECTIVITY eInvoicing can be combined
TO EDELIVERY with the CEF eDelivery
building block
Services ready for the
new European standard
Solution providers will
be able to document
and promote their
capabilities
Solution providers may
check their compliance
against the eInvoicing
European Standard
A dedicated helpdesk
provides a single point
of contact for support
eInvoicing can be
combined with the CEF
eDelivery building block
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Y Services
4 A deep-dive into CEF eInvoicing Services

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Services
Website Test infrastructure Support Connectivity to eDelivery

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS SOLUTION PROVIDERS

The core function of the website
is to help public administrations
in the uptake of eInvoicing
solutions complying with
Directive 2014/55/EU by
providing a platform that will
match the needs of a public
authority with the capabilities of
eInvoicing solution providers.
The website will allow public
administrations to indicate their
situation (such as capabilities
already procured, etc.) and
assess their needs, such as:
eInvoicing platform or portal
web services
format conversion
back-office integration
human-readable format
conversion of attachments to
PDF
credit note
archiving
suppliers on-boarding
first level support
etc.
The website will allow the
solution providers to document
their capabilities (services
offered, geographical coverage
etc.) on a platform shared with
public administrations seeking
to adapt to the European
Directive.
Solution providers, whilst not
legally bound by the provisions
of Directive 2014/55/EU, stand
to benefit greatly from using the
website as they can, for
example, get a better
understanding of the needs
public authorities face in light of
the European Directive.

A final ambition of the website is

to build an online platform
where best practices and
lessons learned are shared. In
this way, administrations can
support each other
implementing eInvoicing
solutions compliant with the
European Directive.

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Services
Website Test infrastructure Support Connectivity to eDelivery

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS SOLUTION PROVIDERS

In the short term, the test infrastructure helps to ensure that the
eInvoicing solutions implemented by public authorities or solution
providers receiving grant-funding are in compliance with the
European standard.

On a mid-term basis, the test infrastructure will also offer a

validation platform open to public administrations or solution
providers to check the compliance of their solutions against the
European standard.

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Services
Website Test infrastructure Support Connectivity to eDelivery

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS SOLUTION PROVIDERS

CEF eInvoicing provides support around both the test infrastructure

and connectivity to eDelivery services.

Support is provided to end-users in performing their compliance

checks with an automated system.

The support team also acts as single point of contact for everything
concerning the European standard and for questions concerning
eDelivery.

Please see section 6 of this document for further details concerning

the support service.

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Services
Website Test infrastructure Support
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS
CEF eDelivery supports a
number of fundamental goals of
a public authority involved in
the exchange of eInvoices. This
includes:
certainty that data and
documents are secured
against any modification and
encrypted;
certainty that the origin and
the destination of the data
and documents are
trustworthy;
guarantee that data and
documents are delivered once
and only once (retries,
receipts, duplicate
elimination);
More detailed information on
CEF eDelivery can be found in
the introduction document to
CEF eDelivery
Connectivity to eDelivery
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
CEF eDelivery supports a
number of fundamental goals of
a solution provider exchanging
eInvoices with public authorities
which must be compliant with
the European Directive. This
includes:
promoting an atmosphere of
trust among all participants in
the message exchange
network;
enabling the number of
participants in the data
exchange network to grow as
well as the number of
exchanged messages;
implementing common
technical specifications;
More detailed information on
CEF eDelivery can be found in
the introduction document to
CEF eDelivery
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Y Technical specifications
5 What are the technical foundations of CEF
eInvoicing?

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Technical specifications

The appropriate technical solutions and organisational set up must be in

place to facilitate eInvoicing.
In the context of the CEF eInvoicing call for proposals, in order to foster
interoperability between Member States, preference will be given to
eInvoicing solutions that are already on the market and which allow
cross-border exchanges. The preferred solutions should be based on
existing technical specifications developed within the framework of European
standardisation organisations such as CEN and take into account the results
of large-scale pilot projects like PEPPOL implemented within the framework
of the Policy Support Programme of the Competitiveness and Innovation
Framework Programme (CIP)

The PEPPOL Business Interoperability Specification (BIS) is a CEN BII

Profile with additional legal, organisational and technical requirements to
support pan-European use. See also PEPPOL standards

Other solutions based on European or international standards in eInvoicing

may be considered, as long as they envisage compliance with the European
standard.

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Y Implementations
6 What are the existing CEF eInvoicing
implementations?

27
Your options

While considering an eInvoicing project, two alternative implementation

scenarios can be considered:

BUILD
You build and test your own
components that implement the
specifications compliant with the
European Directive. This can be
done using an in-house
development team or by an
external contractor.
BUY
You buy products and services that
implement the specifications
compliant with the European
Directive. This can be a proprietary
or an open source software product.

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Y CEF Support
7 How can I get help?

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CEF Support

Testing Services Information about the

The test infrastructure will allow European standard
solution providers and public The support team is the single
administrations to check their point of contact for questions
existing eInvoicing solutions concerning the European
compliance against a given standard.
standard, such as PEPPOL BIS or
any other syntax supporting the
future eInvoicing European
standard (after Q2 2017).
The support team will act as
single point of contact for the test
infrastructure and assist users in
performing their compliance
checks with an automated
system.

Single point of contact for eInvoicing

By email: CEF-EINVOICING-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu
By phone: +32 2 299 09 09
Standard Service: 8am to 6pm (normal EC working days)
Standby Service*: 6pm to 8am (normal EC working days)
Commission and Public Hollidays
Weekends
* Only for critial and urgent incidents and only by phone

Support related to connectivity to eDelivery

By email: CEF-EDELIVERY-SUPPORT@ec.europa.euu
By phone: +32 2 299 09 09
Standard Service: 8am to 6pm (normal EC working days)
Standby Service*: 6pm to 8am (normal EC working days)
Commission and Public Hollidays
Weekends
* Only for critial and urgent incidents and only by phone

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Y
8 Definitions

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Definitions
Building Blocks are basic digital
service infrastructures, which are key
enablers to be reused in more complex
digital services..
Source: Regulation (EU) No 283/2014
Interoperability is the ability of
disparate and diverse organisations to
interact towards mutually beneficial and
agreed common goals, involving the
sharing of information and knowledge
between the organisations, through the
business processes they support, by
means of the exchange of data between
their respective ICT systems.
Source: European Interoperability Framework
2.0
The European standard on
electronic invoicing should define
semantic data elements referring, in
particular, to complementary seller and
buyer data, process identifiers, invoice
attributes, invoice item details, delivery
information, and payment details and
terms. The core elements of an electronic
invoice should be included in every
electronic invoice. This should ensure the
clear and uniform application of electronic
invoicing.
The European standard is due for
publication Q2 2017.
Source: Art. 24, Directive 2014/55/EU
CEF eInvoicing is a building block that
aims to facilitate the adoption of the
European standard by the market and
assist Member States in implementing an
eInvoicing solution that complies with the
Directive 2014/55/EU
A Digital Service Infrastructure
(DSI) describe solutions that support the
implementation of EU-wide projects. They
provide trans-European interoperable
services of common interest for citizens,
businesses and/or public authorities, and
which are composed of core service
platforms and generic services.
Core Service Platforms (CSP) - the
central hubs which enable trans-
European connectivity. This part of a
DSI is managed, implemented and
operated by the Commission.
Generic Services (GS) - the link
between national infrastructures to the
core service platforms. This part of a
DSI is managed, implemented and
operated by the Member States.
Source: Regulation (EU) No 283/2014
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Visit the catalogue of building blocks on the CED Digital
Single Web Portal
https://ec.europa.eu/cefdigital

DIGIT
Contact us
Directorate-General for Informatics
CEF-BUILDING-BLOCKS@ec.europa.eu
DG CONNECT
Directorate-General for Communications
Networks, Content and Technology
DG GROW
The Directorate-General (DG) for Internal
Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

European Union, 2015. All rights reserved. Certain parts are licensed under conditions to the EU.
Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledged.

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