eInvoicing Services
European standard and specifications
The definition of the European standard on eInvoicing was carried out by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Such Committee for Standardization used the work of existing standardisation initiatives such as the CEN BII workshops agreement and the recommendations of the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Electronic Invoicing as a baseline to come to the definition of the European Norm.
The European standard on electronic invoicing
The European standard on eInvoicing was formally published along with supporting Technical specifications and reports in 6 parts by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) on June 28th, July 5th and October 18th 2017.
| Part | Name | ID | Type |
1 | Semantic data model of the core elements of an electronic invoice | Standard | |
2 | List of syntaxes that comply with EN 16931- | Technical specification | |
3-1 | Methodology for syntax bindings of the core elements of an electronic invoice. | Technical specification | |
| 3-2 | Syntax binding for ISO/IEC 19845 (UBL 2.1) invoice and credit note | CEN/TS 16931-3-2:2017 | Technical specification |
| 3-3 | Syntax binding for UN/CEFACT XML Industry Invoice D16B | CEN/TS 16931-3-3:2017 | Technical specification |
| 3-4 | Syntax binding for UN/EDIFACT INVOIC D16B | CEN/TS 16931-3-4:2017 | Technical specification |
4 | Guidelines on interoperability of electronic invoices at the transmission level. | Technical report | |
5 | Guidelines on the use of sector or country extensions in conjunction with EN 16931-1, methodology to be applied in the real environment. | Technical report | |
| 6 | Result of the test of EN 16931-1 with respect to its practical application for an end user | CEN/TR 16931-6:2017 | Technical report |
Definition examples
The PEPPOL Business Interoperability Specification (BIS) is a CEN BII Profile with additional legal, organisational and technical requirements to support pan-European use. Download PEPPOL Standards.
Background document - eInvoicing and Standardisation
Last updated: 21 March 2016
Recommendation on the use of a semantic data model
Last updated: 2013
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