The European Commission is happy to announce that a reference to the European standard on electronic invoicing (eInvoicing) has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
The publication of the standard is a key step towards the digitalisation of public procurement in Europe.
Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement calls for the definition of a common European standard on eInvoicing at semantic level (the core information contained in the eInvoice) as well as a list of syntaxes (the format or language used for transmission of the eInvoice).
On 28 June 2017, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) published the semantic data model and the list of syntaxes for the European standard on eInvoicing. As requested by the Directive, a Study on the practical application and implementation of the European e-Invoicing standard was carried out, which confirmed that the standard is fit for purpose. On 17 October 2017 Commission has published the reference to the standard in the Official Journal.
It marks the beginning of the implementation phase of the standard. The Directive stipulates an implementation deadline of 18 months at the national level and 30 months at the regional and local level. The creation of a European standard for eInvoicing in public procurement prevents the continued proliferation of eInvoicing standards and syntaxes coexisting in the Member States, which leads to increased complexity in term of cross-border interoperability.