CEF eInvoicing: A knowledge base for eInvoicing in Europe
European Commission
With important legal deadlines approaching, it is necessary to understand the details of the European standard on eInvoicing and the relevant legislation - and the substantial benefits of electronic invoicing (eInvoicing).
In this spirit, the European Commission has published handy, accessible and simultaneously comprehensive information on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eInvoicing webpage to support both decision makers and implementers. Users of this are also invited to share it among their networks.
This includes detailed information on how to comply with both the Directive and the European standard, ranging from a detailed walk-through of the Directive itself, to technical considerations on the main elements of the European standard. In addition, you can find clear explanations on how to obtain a copy of the European standard on electronic invoicing and a copyright overview of eInvoicing standards in Member States.
As the legal deadlines get closer, this knowledge base will be continuously developed and enlarged. eInvoicing stakeholders may – and are encouraged to – contribute. Stakeholders are welcome to submit questions on the Directive or European standard to the CEF eInvoicing Service Desk, or as a discussion in the eInvoicing User Community, which the Commission will explore and publish online.
The European standard on eInvoicing helps prevent the proliferation of differing eInvoices. Working at a syntax level, the European standard helps increase cross-border interoperability and so support business and administration in Europe.
The European Parliament and Council therefore adopted Directive 2014/55/EU, establishing the European standard. The Directive includes the 18 April 2019 deadline for Member States to transpose into national law and implement the Directive (extendable for certain actors).
The CEF eInvoicing Building Block supports the adoption of this standard. This includes the following services:
- Implementation package, including on-site workshops provided to public entities and policy makers, remote trainings and webinars;
- Conformance testing services, ensuring your eInvoice and/or solution is conformant;
- A dedicated services desk available via phone or email;
- Country factsheets, explaining each Member States eInvocing ecosystem;
- The eInvoicing Readiness Checker, which allows public entities to check their level of readiness to
- exchange eInvoices in conformance with European legislation and based
- on their national policy framework
Visit the CEF Digital 2018 website to consult the eInvoicing Knowledge Base and consult the CEF eInvoicing service offering.
GOV.UK Verify | Exploring user research for better cross-border electronic identification experience
GOV.UK Verify | Exploring user research for better cross-border electronic identification experience
European Commission
Understanding users' needs and expectations has become a priority for public authorities to deliver digital public services. The EU Member States have committed via the 2017 Tallinn Declaration on eGovernment to implement user-centricity principles for design and delivery of digital public services in order to improve citizens' and businesses' experience when interacting with public administrations online.
In light of the eIDAS Regulation, the European Commission is looking into improving the user experience of cross-border electronic identification (eID) in Europe and to support the uptake of eID by businesses and citizens.
The Government Digital Service (GDS), part of the Cabinet Office of the UK government, has conducted significant research into the development of a truly user-centric website for UK government services (GOV.UK). This website is designed around the specific needs and life events of citizens and businesses. Within GDS, a dedicated team of 20 people is working specifically on the issue of cross-border authentication. One of the team's objectives is to determine the best way to help European residents in the UK understand the possibility of using their own national eID scheme to access UK online services, for example to check their income tax, apply for a criminal record check, or view their driving licence information online. The team conducted several rounds of user research and testing to better understand what foreigners' needs and expectations are when accessing UK online services.
GDS invited team members from the European Commission working on eID initiatives in Europe for a one-day visit. During this visit the Commission team had the opportunity to learn more about the GDS' research, ways of working and latest thoughts on the design of web-pages to support cross-border authentication. They were also able to observe on one of the live user testing sessions held that day. During these sessions, the study team asked users to complete a specific task on the GOV.UK website (for example, requesting a criminal record check). The users' reactions and rationale were documented and recorded on video, helping the team to refine their understanding of how users interact with the service and where they experience difficulties (pain-points). These insights then allow the team to iteratively improve the service.
Picture | Collection of users behaviour during User research Lab session
Through its research, GDS has identified some interesting user experience challenges for public administrations - such as digital onboarding or developing an intuititve interface - regarding the use of nationally-issued eIDs in a cross-border context. For example, each European country has a different way of referring to electronic identification solutions (digital profile, digital identity, eID scheme, etc). It can therefore be difficult to determine how best to label services which will be accessible cross-border in a way that foreign users understand. Other users simply don't imagine that they can use their own nationally issued eID for foreign services, and so these services need to be designed in such a way as to educate the user.
Additionally, some eID schemes can be difficult to use when a citizen has not been living in that country for a while (e.g. a national phone number may be requested to complete two-factor authentication, or the renewal of credentials may be requested on a regular basis). Such findings will contribute greatly to the European Commission's recommendations towards the other EU Member States that will also need to consider these issues as they look into increasing cross-border access to online public services.
Another important aspect for the European Commission is to understand how to increase the uptake of cross-border (eIDAS-based) eIDs in the private sector. GDS, in partnership with Barclays, HSBC, Morpho, and Orange, has benefited from a CEF Grant in 2016 (2016-EU-IA-0070) to develop a pilot project aimed at opening a UK bank account with a French eID, and we were able to discuss this with the team in more detail. The findings of the project suggest that there is a business case for the banking sector to reuse eIDAS-based eIDs to verify the identity of potential new clients. However, the Member States need to clarify to which extent and under which conditions the private sector will be able to reuse the eIDAS network and public infrastructures to perform cross-border authentication.
The European Commission has recently launched a task force on electronic identification and remote Know Your-Customer processes to further explore how the banking sector could leverage the possibilities offered by eIDAS identification.
A Connecting Europe Success Story
Successful Completion of the AS4 Phase-in Criteria in PEPPOL
European Commission 2017
OpenPEPPOL, together with the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eDelivery Building Block, have successfully completed the Phase-in (T2) criteria for the transition from the AS2 to the AS4 message exchange protocol within the PEPPOL eDelivery network. This begins the process of deploying AS4 as an optional protocol within the OpenPEPPOL eDelivery network.
On 19 September 2016, the European Commission and OpenPEPPOL signed a Letter of Understanding, outlining the transition from AS2 to AS4 message exchange protocols.
Teams from both sides have joined forces and worked closely with solution providers in dedicated task forces to demonstrate that AS4 will deliver the same high quality results as AS2.
The release of the PEPPOL AS4 profile in December 2017 marked the completion of the T2 phase and now both OpenPEPPOL and the CEF eDelivery team are continuing close collaboration to make the Transition (T3) criteria a success so that AS4 becomes a mandatory transport protocol in the PEPPOL network according to the planned timeframe (Q2 2019).
AS4 is typically used for the secure and reliable exchange of documents and data. AS4 can be used in virtually every sector or business domain. This infographic provides a handy overview of the AS4 protocol.
Today, AS4 is the message exchange protocol promoted by CEF eDelivery. CEF eDelivery helps public administrations to exchange electronic data and documents with other public administrations, businesses and citizens, in an interoperable, secure, reliable and trusted way. CEF eDelivery is a network of nodes for digital communications. It is based on a distributed model where every participant becomes a node using standard transport protocols and security policies.
OpenPEPPOL was established after successful completion of the Pan-European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) project, which saw PEPPOL specifications being implemented in several European countries solving interoperability issues for electronic procurement. The PEPPOL project remains one of the key Connecting Europe Success Stories, the benefits of which continue to be built-upon. Currently, more than 160 certified Access Points are connected to the PEPPOL eDelivery Network in 20 European countries and North America. The PEPPOL eDelivery Network is today mostly used for electronic invoicing, and plays an important role for the implementation of Directive 2014/55/EU on e-invoicing in public procurement in many countries today. The latest country being Ireland, with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform signing on as a PEPPOL Authority in January 2018
The European Commission also provides CEF grant funding to support the transition from AS2 to AS4 (see the Innovation & Networks Executive Agency (INEA) for details).
In this context, OpenPEPPOL Access Point Providers are therefore strongly encouraged to plan their upgrade from AS2 to AS4. For more information or practical details, contact OpenPEPPOL or CEF eDelivery.
CEF eDelivery: Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) 4.0 FR Out Now
European Commission
On 26th February, the European Commission released the Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) 4.0 Final Release of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eDelivery building block.
This publication follows the release of the SMP 4.0 Release Candidate on 3 January 2018.
CEF eDelivery is a network of nodes for digital communications. It is based on a distributed model where every participant becomes a node using standard transport protocols and security policies. The CEF eDelivery building block is based on the AS4 messaging protocol, open and free for all, developed by the OASIS standards development organisation. To ease its adoption in Europe, eDelivery uses the AS4 implementation guidelines defined by the Member States in the e-SENS Large Scale Pilot.
The CEF eDelivery Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) enables the participants of an eDelivery Messaging Infrastructure to dynamically discover each other's capabilities (Legal, Organisational, and Technical). For this to happen, each participant must publish its capabilities and settings in a SMP.
This release is conformant with the eDelivery SMP profile based on the OASIS Service Metadata Publishing (BDX SMP) specifications.
All necessary functionality is available to make the SMP fully operational; i.e. all necessary operations to manage Service Groups (structures that represent a set of services associated with a specific Participant identifier) and their Service Metadata (structures that represent Metadata about a specific electronic service)
The SMP 4.0 Final Release includes a range of improvements and new features and also includes several bug fixes.
The European Commission, very much welcomes the continued uptake of the AS4 message exchange protocol, underpinning a Digital Single Market in Europe.
CEF eDelivery: Continued uptake of AS4 message exchange protocol
European Commission 2018
The European Commission very much welcomes the continued uptake of the AS4 message exchange protocol, underpinning a Digital Single Market in Europe.
The secure transfer of data is a fundamental aspect of the digital economy. Any EU policy domain (justice, procurement, consumer protection, etc.) requires secure, reliable, cross-border and cross-sector exchange of documents and data (weather structured, non-structured and/or binary).
Currently, day-to-day e-mail is unlikely to be secure enough to deliver sensitive information and official documents. This happens because encryption of email exchange is not widely practised in daily life. Even by accepting the security limitations of common email for our 'routine' exchanges, the exchange of official documents and sensitive information must be handled according to different requirements.
eDelivery is one of the building blocks of the European Commission's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). CEF eDelivery is a network of nodes for digital communications. It is based on a distributed model where every participant becomes a node using standard transport protocols and security policies. The CEF eDelivery building block is based on the AS4 messaging protocol, open and free for all, developed by the OASIS standards development organisation. To ease its adoption in Europe, eDelivery uses the AS4 implementation guidelines defined by the Member States in the e-SENS Large Scale Pilot.
The continued adoption of CEF eDelivery and the AS4 message exchange protocol is a major step in creating a connected Digital Single Market in Europe and reducing costs for citizens, businesses and public administrations.
The European Commission therefore welcomes news that e-Boks, the leading national solution for secure digital mail in Denmark, Norway and Sweden is adopting CEF eDelivery. The impending adoption of CEF eDelivery would see AS4 implemented for public authorities, businesses and citizens - in total 15 million users with over 400 million transactions per annum - in Denmark, Sweden, Norway mainly but also in Finland, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Ireland. The adoption of a common standards for data exchange would therefore lead to a significant reduction in costs, benefiting users, businesses and the Digital Single Market throughout Europe.
This adoption of CEF eDelivery is one of the largest examples of a service provider connecting so many users at once. It underscores the value and importance of having industry driving the adoption of common standards in Europe.
e-Boks’ far-reaching adoption of CEF eDelivery also comes as it signs a Letter of Understanding with the Norwegian Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Difi) promoting usage of AS4 within the OpenPEPPOL network. e-Boks will expand their strong collaboration with the public authorities in Denmark, Sweden and Norway and support Difi with their Oxalis and ELMA sample implementations and further development towards AS4.
In 2016, the European Commission and OpenPEPPOL signed a Letter of Understanding, outlining the transition from AS2 to AS4 message exchange protocols. December 2017 marked the completion of the ‘Phase-in’ period as OpenPEPPOL now moves to the ‘Transition’ period (whereby AS4 becomes a mandatory transport protocol in the PEPPOL network). OpenPEPPOL was established after successful completion of the Pan-European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) project, which saw PEPPOL specifications being implemented in several European countries solving interoperability issues for electronic procurement.
The PEPPOL project remains one of the key Connecting Europe Success Stories. The Slovenian Supreme Court, which recently used CEF eDelivery to speed up the judicial process, is another. By using the CEF AS4 profile and CEF’s conformance testing platform the team at the Slovenian Supreme Court has succeeded in speeding up the judicial process, saved staff from mundane tasks and generated savings of over €4.5 million per year.
The European Commission monitors the uptake of CEF eDelivery, and the other CEF Building Blocks (eID, eInvoicing, eSignature and eTranslation), on the CEF Monitoring dashboard.
Want to learn more about CEF eDelivery and AS4?
- CEF eDelivery infographic
- AS4 infographic
- Learn about grant funding supporting the adoption of CEF eDelivery
- Discover the CEF Building Blocks on CEF Digital 2018
Apply Now: 2018 eArchiving Core Service Platform Call
INEA provides details of the call
The Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) is currently holding a call for proposals for the eArchiving Core Service Platform. An indicative €1.53 million of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding is available for proposals in this area. The deadline for applications is 3 May 2018.
As announced in the CEF telecommunications Work Programme 2018, the European Commission is beginning work on new CEF Building Blocks: eArchiving, Context Broker and Big Data test infrastructure (alongside the current catalogue consisting of eDelivery, eID, eInvoicing, eSignature and eTranslation).
The CEF Building Blocks offer basic capabilities that can be reused in any European project to facilitate the delivery of digital public services across borders and sectors. The Building Blocks are composed of ‘Core Service Platforms’ – central hubs which enable trans-European connectivity – and ‘Generic Services’ which link national infrastructures to the Core Service Platforms.
Archives deliver an indispensable component of the digital ecosystem by safeguarding information and enabling access to it. The Commission’s Digital Single Market mid-term review points out that a bedrock of trust is key to building consumer and business confidence about investing in digital technologies and services, and boosting Europe’s digital economy.
Furthermore, there are legal obligations in all Member States for public administrations to keep certain data and documents in the national archives for a certain amount of time.
In this context, the establishment of the eArchiving core service platform should help achieve a significant reduction in the cost of implementing and maintaining eArchiving solutions (e.g. economies of scale), and lead to greater efficiency. Proposals are expected to demonstrate how they will contribute to these overall goals.
In addition, applicants should explain to which extent the work proposed would bring about the following short-, medium- and long-term benefits:
- Easier ways for data owners to exchange data between organisations and with individuals (which will help meet the data portability requirements in the General Data Protection Regulation);
- Better market opportunities and increased competitiveness for IT providers, thanks to easier archival data exchange across borders;
- Increased cross-border availability of commercial eArchiving services for the public and private sectors alike;
- Greater government transparency as a result of improvements in eArchiving capability and public access to archived digital records;
- The ability to create new innovative services based on archived digital data;
- Enhanced training and employment opportunities for staff, thanks to use of a common system;
- Improved long-term storage and availability of public and private sector data;
All the information you need to submit an application is available on the INEA website.
To discover more about the CEF Building Blocks, visit CEF Digital 2018.
INEA Publishes 2018 CEF Telecom Frequently Asked Questions
European Commission, 2018
The Innovation & Networks Executive Agency (INEA) has published the frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding the 2018 Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Telecom calls.
The call for proposals (CEF-TC-2018-1) provides grant funding of up to € 7.5 million to support the adoption of eIdentification (eID) and an additional €0.5 for eSignature in Europe covering up to 75% of the costs of implementation. The deadline for applications is 15 May 2018.
In order to receive a notification directly when the Frequently Asked Questions are updated, you can use the registration form on the INEA FAQ page.
Interested in Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) grant funding, which supports the adoption of eID and eSignature in Europe? Visit the Call Page now. For anything else, don't miss the 2018-1 CEF Telecom call Virtual Info Day on Thursday, 8. March 2018 - 10:00 CET.