Peppol, short for Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line, is an open and standardized network designed to simplify B2B transactions with, for example, electronic invoicing, procurement, and other business documents. Created initially in the European Union, the network is rapidly gaining global traction due to its straightforward and efficient approach to electronic business transactions.

Historically, invoices and other business documents were manually created, printed, and physically sent, resulting in a time-consuming, error-prone process. By the late 20th century, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) dramatically changed how businesses exchanged financial documents, beginning with the first EDI message—a shipping manifest sent by telex in 1965.

Value-Added Networks (VANs) later emerged to enable EDI by acting as intermediaries, facilitating electronic communication between businesses. Despite VANs offering critical features such as encryption, auditing, and data management, they presented significant drawbacks, including high setup costs, complex integration, and limited flexibility, particularly affecting small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Traditional business messaging systems, often described as “closed networks,” require businesses to establish an agreement with a VAN operator. These operators must maintain interoperability agreements, continuously manage technical configurations, and perform format conversions between VANs to enable exchange. These requirements create substantial barriers for usability and lead to higher operational costs.

Peppol addresses these traditional limitations by providing a universally accessible and standardized electronic business network. Unlike VAN-based or direct EDI connections, Peppol offers:

Its growth and governance are managed by OpenPeppol, a nonprofit organization that ensures that the network meets evolving user and technological needs.

Learn more about Peppol’s advantages and how it simplifies e-invoicing.

The network’s effectiveness relies on several critical building blocks:

Businesses exchange messages via certified Peppol service providers acting as access points, which connect directly to the network, removing the need for complicated agreements or costly technical setups.

Peppol utilizes a four-corner model. In this structure, sender and receiver connect through certified intermediaries known as Peppol Access Points, ensuring secure, reliable, and interoperable transactions without direct connections between trading partners.

Unlike traditional Value-Added Networks (VANs), Peppol’s open model eliminates the need for individual agreements or technical setups between operators, significantly reducing integration complexity, lowering costs, and increasing accessibility for all organizations.

The network relies on unique identifiers (Peppol IDs) for message routing:

A Peppol ID is mandatory for receiving e-invoices and documents, but not required for sending them, streamlining initial interactions and reducing barriers to adoption.

Find companies registered on the network using our free Peppol ID search tool.

The network’s standardized messaging protocols enable a comprehensive exchange of business messages.

Message profiles in Peppol define standardized sets of rules and data requirements tailored for specific business scenarios, such as invoicing or ordering. Message types, on the other hand, refer to the actual categories of messages (like invoices, credit notes, or order responses) exchanged within these profiles.

Here are the most common types and profiles:

The network delivers tangible advantages:

Joining Peppol involves simple steps:

This process is straightforward, cost-effective, and typically requires no specialized technical knowledge, as simple as emailing.