Electronic invoicing or e-invoicing is the exchange of an electronic invoice between trading partners. An electronic invoice is a structured business document, typically in a well-defined format (or syntax). A digital invoice is not an e-invoice. A digital invoice is usually a PDF or Word file that is sometimes a scanned paper invoice. An electronic invoice (or e-invoice) is a data file that is transferred between computers and not easy to understand for humans. Common e-invoice file formats are Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

Currently, the electronic invoice is mandatory in most European countries for Business-to-Government (B2G) transactions, i.e. invoices with the public administrations and government instances.

In the Business-to-Business (B2B) environment, governments are expected to implement mandatory B2B e-invoicing in the coming years, with a timeline varying per country. It is already mandatory, often in a phased approach, in some countries today. The latest information on the status per country is available on this web page of the European Commission.

The Descartes Global Logistics Network is an ecosystem of software solutions for the supply chain market. It connects hundreds of thousands of logistics and transportation, manufacturing, distribution, retail, government, and ecommerce businesses in over 160 countries. Rely on Descartes’ expert team for a hassle-free integrated EDI solution.

With the Descartes GLN Document Exchange platform – Descartes’ cloud-based SaaS solution for B2B messaging – we provide EDI-based messaging solutions for companies worldwide.

PEPPOL, an EDI protocol for Pan-European Public Procurement, is supported by the Descartes Global Logistics Network (GLN), a certified access point.

The upcoming B2B e-invoicing guidelines (European Directive 2014/55/EU) promote the PEPPOL standard, which Descartes fully supports. As a global SaaS solution, Descartes covers all European countries where PEPPOL becomes active. Future guidelines like ViDA and e-reporting are still being debated. For more information, contact Descartes through the button below.