What is Peppol and what are its advantages?
In short, Peppol is a secure international network of organisations. They use the network to send standardised invoices. The biggest advantage? When you use Peppol, you know for sure that your customer will receive and interpret your invoices correctly. Thus, they will also handle them easily and quickly, read them, and pay.
Peppol revolves around electronic invoicing, where invoices are automatically exchanged between company and/or government accounting systems.
A little history?
Peppol stands for "Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine". The network was established in 2008 and started as a pilot project of the European Commission.
Companies wanted to be able to send their e-invoices securely to all their customers. This required an international network. Peppol contains an appointment calendar, a standard format for invoices, and applications for e-procurement and e-invoicing.
Organisations use the network to exchange secure electronic documents, for example, UBL invoices (UBL2.1). UBL stands for Universal Business Language and is the standard format for electronic invoicing.
What are the advantages of Peppol?
- Two services in one tool
- Standardisation of invoices, and other documents, if required.
- Transport tool that guarantees secure communication between organisations.
- Secure
Registration is based on a unique identification number, the Peppol ID, that always makes it clear who the invoice sender is. This gives ghost invoices no chance. In addition, all data is encrypted when sent.
- International
Peppol is a European initiative according to European standards. As a Peppol user, you are immediately exposed to a large range of organisations, thanks to one connection.
- GDPR-proof
All data traffic via Peppol automatically complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (the AVG, or in English: GDPR).
- More efficient
All information on the invoice is available digitally. As a result, the recipient can process the invoice with great speed.
- Faster payments
Invoices land directly in the recipient's accounting package, so they are often paid very fast.
How do I connect to the Peppol network?
First, connect to a Peppol Access Point (link: https://peppol.eu/who-is-who/peppol-certified-aps/). This will provide you with a Peppol ID and connect your organisation to the European Peppol network. As soon as you have an ID, you can invoice any other connected company electronically.
