Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the structured, system-to-system exchange of business information between organisations. It can cover invoices, orders, despatch advice, catalogues and many other documents.

EDI is not one file format. UN/EDIFACT is an international standard used across many regions, while ANSI X12 is used mainly in North America. Other standards, national formats and bilateral implementations are also common.

Peppol is an international interoperability framework and network for exchanging registered business documents. It uses common transport rules, participant discovery and Peppol BIS or PINT specifications to reduce the need for bilateral connections. It is not simply a “European EDI format”.

EU Directive 2014/55/EU requires covered public authorities to be able to receive and process electronic invoices compliant with EN 16931. The directive does not itself require Peppol, although Peppol BIS Billing is widely used to implement EN 16931 e-invoicing.