The mandatory submission of eInvoices started, on a gradual basis, from January 2017. According to the ordinance, the date of enforcement of the law for the suppliers varies according to the company size :
01/01/2017 for any company including more than 5000 employees
01/01/2018 for any company including 250 to 5000 employees
01/01/2019 for any company including 10 to 250 employees
01/01/2020 for any company including less than 10 employees
eInvoicing platform and eInvoicing management solutions
In France, due to compulsory legislation concerning e-invoicing, a national unique invoicing portal called "Chorus Pro" has been developed by the Agence pour l'Informatique Financière de l’État (AIFE), the french national public agency for IT, depending of the Ministry for the Economy and Finance.
Chorus Pro supports all suppliers of the public sector to submit their invoices, to check on their current status of the invoice and the payments.
Usage of Chorus pro is free of charge for suppliers and contracting authorities.
In order to adapt to the capacities and needs of the suppliers concerned, the portal offers three modes of sending: the manual entry of invoices directly on the platform, the downloading of PDF or XML invoices (signed or not) from the portal, and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) in direct connection or via a service operator.
Approach for receiving and processing eInvoices
The Agency for State Financial Information is responsible for operating the (single hub) eInvoicing platform (Chorus Pro).
Economic operators submitting eInvoices and public entities receiving and processing eInvoices are connected to the Chorus Pro, a three-corner operating model.