Norway (2021 eInvoicing Country Sheet)

Legislation

From 2011 onward, all central authorities are required to receive and process invoices electronically.

In 2012, it became mandatory for the suppliers of central government entities to send invoices electronically, being compliant with the European standard on eInvoicing.

According to FOR-2019-04-01-444, from 2 April 2019, it is mandatory for all public contracting authorities to receive and process eInvoices. Public entities’ suppliers are required to send eInvoices. Electronic Invoices must comply with Directive 2014/55/EU on public procurement using EHF/Peppol BIS Billing and the Peppol eDelivery network[2].

Additionally, the central government contracting authorities issuing invoices are mandated to offer to send EHF/Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 invoices to business recipients.

eInvoicing platform and eInvoicing management solutions

Norway is dependent on both the Peppol BIS 3.0 standard and the Peppol eDelivery Network – particularly for cross-border transactions. Both economic operators and contracting authorities in Norway rely on Peppol Access Point (AP) service providers to achieve compliance with national regulations. These service providers offer solutions for creating, submitting, transmitting, receiving, and processing eInvoices. A list of eInvoicing service providers is publicly available.

All transactions can be handled through a single provider. There is no need to establish new partner bilateral connections.

In the public sector, the main eInvoicing management solutions are Unit4 /Agresso, VISMA, Basware (Contempus) and SAP. There are more than 60 different Peppol BIS compliant solutions used in the private sector.

Approach for receiving and processing eInvoices

Economic operators can submit eInvoices either by using their internal Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or accounting systems or by using approved eInvoicing solution providers. The Norwegian eProcurement infrastructure is built around the Peppol Business Interoperability Specifications (BIS) and the Peppol eDelivery Network.

In addition to Peppol BIS document format, EHF (Elektronisk Handelsformat) format is also recognise by Norwegian public bodies. Both are based on UBL (Universal Business Language).

The Norwegian Government Agency for Financial Management (DFØ) receives invoices on behalf of nearly 200 of the country's central government entities.

The DFØ. The Norwegian Digitalisation Agency authorises Norwegian-registered Access Points (AP) and operates the ELMA registry (a Peppol Service Metadata Publisher), with nearly 200,000 receivers by January 2021, containing the identities and receiving capabilities of all Norwegian public entities and economic operators that communicate using the Peppol eDelivery Network.

Today, the eInvoicing process is mostly automated. Most public entities have an economic system that can handle Peppol invoices. The electronic follow-up systems (invoice flow systems) are used for the approval of the invoice before it is payed. While most of the payments are done electronically for all sub-central levels, the use of eOrder is still in its beginning. The use of Peppol has made the public administration more interested in the use of electronic solutions. The possibility to automate more processes by using eOrder, eCatalogue and eInvoice together is a goal for the public administration.

eInvoicing implementation in sub-central level contracting authorities 

As of 2 April 2019, it is compulsory for all contracting authorities, central and non-central public bodies, to be able to receive and process eInvoices. Likewise, public entities’ suppliers of such public entities are required to send eInvoices¹.

The eInvoicing strategy is Peppol-based, it is used by 99% of the contracting authorities on 2020^[3]. The non-domestic eInvoices are received through Peppol formats and network. 

The CIUS in place is the Peppol CIUS. There is no specific communication as the Peppol CIUS corresponds to the EN to be used. 

The target benefits of implementing eInvoicing at sub-central level is the cost and operational savings, the reduction of administrative burden and the contribution to process automation.

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

Norway has fully implemented the European standard on eInvoicing. 

EHF is used exclusively between Norwegian organisations. Meanwhile the more popular Peppol BIS format is used for both cross-border and national transactions, with CEF Digital estimating that the Peppol format is currently used by approximately 99% of contracting authorities.

Monitoring eInvoicing implementation 

From 2020, a monitoring system has been implemented with the aim of tracking the use of eInvoices with central and non-central bodies in Norway[3].

The monitoring strategy is in place at both central and sub-central levels. The available data are expressed in number of invoices that are submitted electronically. Currently around 90% of all invoices sent to Norwegian public entities are eInvoices.

Additional information

Norstella community offers the Oxalis open-source sample implementations for Peppol Access Points, which are widely used by solution providers across Europe.

At the level of the government, payments are done electronically. The government is using ISO20022 with electronic payment (ePayment) via the Peppol network.

Archiving electronically is possible in Norway. There is an ongoing study for developing an archiving solution for eInvoices via the Peppol network.

[1, 2] (Smith, 2021), [3] (Anskaffelser.no, 2021), 

NO VERIFICATION

Last updated:  Jun 29, 2021 12:03