CEF eInvoicing: Is Your eInvoice Valid? CEF Services Help you Find Out!
European Commission 2017
The European Commission is happy to publish a series of Service Description (SOD) Documents, providing a comprehensive overview of services and support – available to you – supporting electronic invoicing (eInvoicing) in Europe.
To reduce the number of eInvoicing standards hampering cross-border economic activity in Europe, EU Member States and the European Parliament approved Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement the creation of a single European eInvoicing standard.
The Directive mandates an 18-month implementation period with 18 April 2019 fixed as the deadline for this. One extra year could be implemented by Member States for sub-central authorities as allowed by the Directive.
The European Commission and EU Member States are supporting the adoption of eInvoicing respecting the European standard for eInvoicing through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eInvoicing building block through as well as grant funding.
CEF eInvoicing offers a free service package that gets you started with eInvoicing in public procurement and helps you comply with European Standard and its Specifications. It includes services, documentation and tools.
The SODs provide in-depth information on each component of the service package provided by the CEF eInvoicing building block.
The Services
The SODs are designed to provide a full understand of the services provided by the CEF eInvoicing building block and how to best make use of them. Below are summaries of the services provided:
- Conformance Testing: Solution & service providers and public entities to check the compliance of their eInvoicing solution against the European standard (including ready-to-use test cases, a testing platform and user-support)
- Service Desk: a Single Point of Contact to address questions, incidents, requests and changes reported by the users
- Trainings: Implementation workshops, Remote trainings and webinars provide policy makers, public entities, suppliers to public entities, solution & service providers with information on the eInvoicing Directive and the European standard
- Implementation Best-Practices: an easy reference repository for eInvoicing related information including information about access to the different code lists, codes used and their meaning, and a glossary of elements used in the European eInvoicing standard
- Stakeholder Management: Awareness raising & stakeholder follow-up available to support compliance with the European standard
- Community: A secure online environment where stakeholders can discuss eInvoicing topics and be informed about the latest CEF news and events
- eInvoicing Readiness Checker: public entities can check their level of readiness to exchange eInvoices in compliance with European legislation (based on their national policy framework). Service offers service & solution providers have an opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities in implementing eInvoicing solutions.
The European Standard on eInvoicing
The deadline for contracting authorities and entities to comply with the Directive and to receive and process electronic invoices respecting the European standard is 18 April 2019. To learn more about the European standard on eInvoicing you may consult the timeline, discover the status of eInvoicing in different Member States and learn about grant funding in place to support the adoption of conformant solutions.
Visit the CEF eInvoicing Services page to consult the list of services and download the SODs: