Annexes to COM(2010)712 - Reaping the benefits of electronic invoicing for Europe - Main contents

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dossier	COM(2010)712 - Reaping the benefits of electronic invoicing for Europe.
document	COM(2010)712
date	December 2, 2010

agreements, standards, communication workflows and security requirements.

The following actions are required to ensure that over time, trading parties can interconnect and create an EU or even wider network delivering mass adoption of e-invoicing.

Actions:

3.1 CEN should develop by end of 2011, a Code of Practice taking into account the work of the Expert Group on e-invoicing. This Code of Practice, to be adopted by trading parties, services providers and public authorities, should include a consistent terminology and a definition of roles and responsibilities of the distinct actors within the e-invoicing process.

3.2 CEN should analyse by end of 2011 the need and propose actions for the adoption of interoperable addressing and routing procedures by the e-invoicing industry participants.

Promote an e-invoice standard data model

One of the key challenges for e-invoicing deployment is to define a single and clear semantic data model describing the information elements required for e-invoices. One common data model will facilitate semantic interoperability and ensure technology neutrality. As per the recommendations of the Expert Group, "the UN/CEFACT Cross-Industry Invoice (CII) v.2 should be adopted as the common reference semantic data model upon which future e-invoice content standard solutions are based". It should be left to the market to define how this data model is subsequently adapted to suit it to specific business needs. All market actors within both the private and public sectors are encouraged to develop and implement, or to converge on, solutions that are compliant with the CII v.2 data model.

In addition, the implementation of this data model should be supported by international standards organisations to ensure accessibility and stability in terms of ongoing governance, maintenance and quality. In Europe, CEN, through its technical committees and workshops, should act as a facilitator to drive forward the implementation of relevant standards and supporting implementation guidelines, and to ensure international standards bodies support the European requirements. However, in the short term, the convergence to a single standard should not prevent existing e-invoicing solutions from being used, provided those solutions conform, or converge towards, the requirements of the common e-invoice data model.

Actions:

4.1 In 2011, CEN will design implementation guidelines for the CII v.2 data model. These guidelines should be based on the core invoice data set proposed by the Expert Group on e-invoicing and take into account the ISO 20022 Invoice message, the work of the CEN e-Invoicing, BII and EBES workshops, and other initiatives such as the PEPPOL project.Depending on market demand, the development of further guidelines covering other domains/business processes should be envisaged.

4.2 CEN will work with international standards organisations, such as UN/CEFACT and ISO, and communicate specific requirements for further development of the CII data model.

4.3 UN/CEFACT is invited to pursue the fast development of e-business messages that are complementary to the e-invoice, and will improve the ability of businesses, trade and administrative organisations to exchange products and relevant services effectively.

Organising the deployment of e-invoicing within the EU

Coordinated action is necessary both at national and at European level to support the deployment of e-invoicing. This will promote compatible national solutions to improve the functioning of the internal market by making cross-border transactions more efficient and less burdensome for consumers, businesses and public authorities.

Promoting e-invoicing at national level

Member States are well-placed for advocating, developing and facilitating the use of e-invoicing. They should ensure that their national commercial, taxation and procurement practices contribute to the development of an e-invoicing environment with EU-wide reach.

Action:

5.1 Member States should develop a strategy to promote e-invoicing at national level. This strategy should have the objective to:

- advocate the use of e-invoicing, in particular by SMEs

- coordinate at national level existing and forthcoming initiatives to promote the uptake of e-invoicing, including the legal, standardisation and interoperability aspects with a European dimension

- monitor and set targets for the adoption level of e-invoicing.

5.2 To support the realisation of these objectives, Member States should put in place national multi-stakeholder e-invoicing fora and inform the Commission of their establishment by June 2011. National fora should ensure a balanced representation of stakeholders, with sufficient participation of public authorities and users of e-invoicing services including consumers, SMEs and large businesses.

Promoting e-invoicing at European level

The actions at Member State level should be coordinated to make sure that e-invoices can be freely exchanged within the EU. Particular attention should be given to facilitating cross-border transactions, especially for SMEs.

Action:

6.1 The Commission will establish for 3 years a European multi-stakeholder e-invoicing forum, hereinafter 'the European E-invoicing Forum', composed of delegates from national fora and representatives of relevant European associations from the users’ community, CEN, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party[22].The European E-Invoicing Forum’s main tasks will be to assist the Commission in the following areas:

- monitor the development of the e-invoicing market and the e-invoicing adoption level in industry and services sectors across Member States

- bring about an exchange of experience and good practice that facilitates the emergence of inter-operable e-invoicing solutions

- point out problems encountered, in particular as regards cross-border transactions, and propose appropriate solutions

- support and monitor work leading to the adoption of a e-invoice standard data model

6.2 The Commission and all the other EU institutions should lead by example by implementing e-invoicing for their own public procurement purposes. In particular, the Commission will pursue the roll-out of the e-Prior project.

6.3 In 2011, the Commission will work towards better statistical monitoring of e-invoicing adoption.

CONCLUSION

The mass adoption of e-invoicing is expected to bring benefits to the EU as a whole and to contribute to its competitiveness. Outside the EU, the market penetration of e-invoicing is growing substantially and it is critical that the EU is not lagging behind these developments.

Member States and stakeholders are invited to endorse the proposed key priorities and actions to achieve the objective of mass adoption of e-invoicing. The Commission will monitor closely all actions and the uptake of e-invoicing and will, by end of 2013, present a progress report to the Council and the European Parliament. In case the progress report shows unsatisfactory progress of e-invoicing adoption and ongoing fragmentation, further actions and recommendations could be taken to address those areas that are preventing mass adoption.

The deployment of e-invoicing by setting-up governance structures such as the National Fora and the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum should help to build a consistent EU approach on e-invoicing and facilitate the emergence of an interoperable pan-European e-invoicing environment.

[1] COM(2010) 2020, http://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/index_en.htm.

[2] COM(2010) 245,http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM: 2010:0245:FIN:EN:PDF.

[3] Enterprises sending and/or receiving e-invoices , Eurostat, 2009.

[4] E-invoicing – E-billing in Europe , Billentis, 2009.

[5] SEPA potential benefits at stake, Capgemini ,http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/payments/docs/sepa/sepa-capgemini_study-final_report_en.pdf.

[6] COM(2009) 15,http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0015:FIN:EN:PDF.

[7] This is an extrapolation based on a study from the Department of Environmental Strategies research at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, estimating the total effect of replacing paper with electronic invoices would lead to annual carbon reductions corresponding to 39°000 tot 41°000 tons of CO2-equivalents per year.

[8] Final Report of the Expert Group on Electronic Invoicing ,http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/docs/2009/e-invoicing/report_en.pdf.

[9] The summary of responses to the public consultation,http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=5814&userservice_id=1&request.id=0.

[10] http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/ict/e-invoicing/benefits/conference_electronic_invoicing_en.htm

[11] Enterprises sending and/or receiving e-invoices , Eurostat, 2009,http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/graph.do?tab=graph&plugin=0&language=en&pcode=tin00114.

[12] Initiatives have emerged in Denmark, Finland, Italy, Spain, Sweden to make e-invoicing mandatory for public authorities under distinct timeframes. Final Report of the Expert Group on e-Invoicing , 2009, pp. 15-16, http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/docs/2009/e-invoicing/report_en.pdf.

[13] Further information on this initiative on www.peppol.eu.

[14] http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/payments/sepa/index_en.htm

[15] Directive 2010/45/EU,http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:189:0001:0008:EN:PDF.

[16] Directive 1999/93/EC,http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2000:013:0012:0020:EN:PDF.

[17] Commission Recommendation 1994/820/EC,http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31994H0820:EN:HTML.

[18] The CEN Workshop on e-Invoicing set up the E-Invoice Gateway (http://www.e-invoice-gateway.net), an independent portal that provides guidance and country-related information on e-invoicing.

[19] Fiscalis 2013 is an EU cooperation programme enabling national tax administrations to create and exchange information and expertise, for more information:http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/tax_cooperation/fiscalis_programme/fiscalis2013/index_en.htm.

[20] COM(2008) 394,http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0394:FIN:EN:PDF.

[21] Along the lines of the forthcoming European Interoperability Framework (EIF) for public services, four layers of inter-operability can be distinguished: legal, organisational, semantic and technical.

[22] Directive 95/46/EC, OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31–50.