Greece (2020 eInvoicing Country Sheet)

Legislation

The transposition of the Directive 2014/55/EU into Greek law was partially adopted in the first quarter of 2019 (Law 4601/2019). The transposition aligns with the text and scope of the Directive however it mandates the issuance of two Joint Ministerial Decisions (JMDs), i.e. secondary level legislation, in order to stipulate the details regarding the adoption of the semantic data model of eInvoices and the architecture of eInvoicing in Greece. 

Due to the changes in the Hellenic Public Administration introduced after the national elections in July 2019, there have been changes in the organization and the mandates of the Ministries affecting, among other things, the implementation of eInvoicing in Greece

The two working groups assigned with the task to draft the content of the JMDs finished their work recently and the final drafts of both JMDs were submitted by the Ministry of Finance to the Hellenic Single Public Procurement Authority (HSPPA) for consent according to Law 4013/2011.

Consent was granted by HSPPA for both the JMD regarding the semantic model for eInvoicing, the JMD regarding the eInvoicing architecture, and the signing procedure by the Ministers is in progress.

Although the legislation has yet to be published, the Independent Public Revenue Authority, the Greek authority responsible for all tax matters (AADE; in Greek, “ΑΑΔΕ”), will mandate the new measures by Q1 2020.

eInvoicing platform and eInvoicing management solutions

The project Interoperable eInvoicing in Greece (GRinv) received funding to build a consortium composed, among others, of the General Secretariat of Digital Policy (coordinating public sector digitalisation strategy), the General Secretariat of Commerce and Consumer Protection (operating the ESIDIS eProcurement system enabling the electronic document exchanges among public administrations - today, it is open to businesses but not mandatory), the University of Piraeus Research Center, among others. The consortium was coordinated by the University of Piraeus. This project aimed to implement an interoperable eInvoicing infrastructure in Greece via the PEPPOL ‘four corner model’ to process B2G eInvoices. 

The National Electronic Public Procurement System (NEPPS or “ΕΣΗΔΗΣ” in Greek pronounced “ESIDIS”) system enables to receive and process standardised eInvoices for contract execution. The General Secretary for Information Systems, in the context of the project, implemented and installed an Access Point (AP) for the receipt of electronic invoices of the Greek State. After the initial semantic check of invoices by the AP, the eInvoices are forwarded to the National Interoperability Center. The National Interoperability Center stores the invoices and directs them to the respective Information Systems of the public bodies. eInvoices are available with the use of web services. In addition, the National Interoperability Center manages the forwarding of replies by the contracting authorities for the acceptance and payment of invoices. The General Accounting Office of State (GAOS) back-office system, also operated by the General Secretariat of Information Systems will be able to handle standardised eInvoices for expense approval, processing and payment. 

Due to the aforementioned changes in the Greek Public Administration, both organizational units involved in the GRinv’s technical implementations belong now to the General Secretariat for Information Systems of Public Administration at the Ministry of Digital Governance. Hence, all technical implementations of GRinv will be part of the National Interoperability Center operated by the General Secretariat for Information Systems of Public Administration at the Ministry of Digital Governance.

Approach for receiving and processing eInvoices

The Greek government authorities have assessed the outcomes of the GRinv project and evaluated eInvoicing best practices in Europe and started to take further actions. 

Hence, the Ministerial Decision No. 1017 / 14.02.2020 (National Gazette, Issue B, Sheet 457) was issued by the Ministry of Finance, which is specifying the eInvoice format for B2B transactions (fully compliant to the EU eInvoicing standard and the chosen Peppol CIUS for B2G). Also, the Ministerial Decision  No. A.1035 / 18.02.2020 (National Gazette, Issue B, Sheet 551) was issued by the Ministry of Finance, which is stipulating rules and regulations regarding eInvoicing Service Providers.

eInvoicing implementation in sub-central level contracting authorities 

The PEPPOL Access Point will enable the receiving and other systems which will enable eInvoices processing will be part of the National Interoperability Center of the General Secretariat for Information Systems of Public Administration at the Ministry of Digital Governance. This service will be available for both central administration and the general government (sub-central administration).

Status on the implementation of the European Standard on eInvoicing (EN)

The Greek authorities have completed the development and testing of their own PEPPOL Access Point, and made the PEPPOL BIS 3.0 to be the mandatory EN compliant format. The necessary fields and items of an eInvoice are outlined in the publication of the A. 1017, which is the EN-compliant format used as well as in the relevant JMD regarding the semantic model.

Monitoring eInvoicing implementation 

A working group (WG) has been established at the Ministry of Finance, with the mandate to steer and monitor all the necessary tasks for enabling the eInvoicing implementation. Members of the WG are senior/executive employees from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Digital Governance, the Court of Auditors, the Information Society S.A. and the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB). This WG has been established as a part of the major Fiscal Reform that the Ministry of Finance is pursuing, with the goal to switch gradually all General Government Entities to accrual accounting.

Additional information

Greece participated in the PEPPOL Large Scale Pilot and tested the electronic procurement system for public administrations (e-Prior). 

Due to the recent Ministerial Decision on certified eInvoicing Service Providers and the enforced electronic way of doing business, more private companies are using these well-established service providers to exchange eInvoices. It is estimated that more than 30,000 companies in Greece exchanged at least 25-30 mil. eInvoices (about 10% of the total invoices issued in Greece) yearly by using the platforms of 3-4 dedicated service providers.

VERIFIED BY GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE

Last updated:  Feb 03, 2021 15:40