Guidance Paper for EU public administrations

Document endorsed by the EMSFeI forum at its 10th meeting of 21 March 2016.
Produced by the EMSFEI Sub-group Connections, led by Mr Charles BRYANT.

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Executive Summary

This Guidance Paper is addressed to all those involved in the implementation of electronic invoicing in public procurement. It supports public sector entities throughout Europe responsible for policy-making, promoting or otherwise facilitating the adoption of e-invoicing, as well as contracting authorities which implement e-invoicing solutions. It will also be useful for suppliers, service and solution providers.

The successful implementation of e-invoicing is not just a technology project. Success stems from the management of people, stakeholders, business processes and automated IT systems. This Paper describes the key decisions, phases and critical elements of an e-invoicing programme, including a step-by-step guide on how to implement it.

The purpose of the document is to provide specific guidance for the implementation of the European Directive on electronic invoicing in public procurement (2014/55/EU), now being transposed into Member State law, whereby all contracting authorities engaged in public procurement will be obliged to support e-invoicing by 2018, or up to 18 months later in the case of smaller contracting authorities. In particular, all EU public bodies will be expected to implement the provisions of Directive 2014/55/EU requiring them to adopt e-invoicing based on a standard for a core European invoice.

The European e-invoicing standard, which creates a semantic model for the core information elements of an electronic invoice is now under preparation by the European Committee for Standardization, CEN, and will be approved and published by the early part of 2017. The Directive also requires the relevant standardisation body to select a limited number of syntaxes (machine readable language), developing the appropriate syntax bindings and guidelines on transmission interoperability, in order to facilitate the use of such standard.

Under the terms of the Directive, Member States shall ensure that contracting authorities are able to receive and process electronic invoices from suppliers which comply with the European standard on e-invoicing and with any of the selected syntaxes. The implementation of the new European standard represents an opportunity to set more ambitious goals and wide ranging einvoicing programmes, realising the significant cost savings and efficiency for both contracting authorities and their suppliers. Where existing e-invoicing solutions are already in use they can remain in place or be developed to achieve even greater volumes.

This Guidance Paper reviews recent developments in e-invoicing, how to implement the provisions of the directive and a number of implementation approaches. While there are still some perceived barriers to a wider e-invoicing adoption, these are discussed below and carefully addressed. The business case for e-invoicing is strong and in addition to cost savings and efficiency creates the potential for prompt payment, reduced fraud and error and greater transparency brought about by digital processes. There are many role models for success in einvoicing in both the public and private sectors in EU Member States and across the globe.

The perspective of the buying or contracting organisation is fully discussed as are the needs of suppliers and the requirements of the connection between the trading parties and the various platforms that support them. Service and solution providers play an important role as ‘connectors’ supporting large and small organisations with invoice processing and value added 4 services. In addition, a variety of EU solutions and tools provided by the European Commission and Member State investments can be re-used by contracting authorities of all sizes. 

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