Peppol enables organisations to exchange structured business documents through a network of certified service providers. E-invoices are the most common documents, but Peppol also supports orders, catalogues, despatch advice and response messages.
Peppol combines three elements:
- Network and discovery: certified Access Points exchange messages. A participant identifier is used to find the recipient’s Service Metadata Publisher (SMP), and the Peppol Service Metadata Locator (SML) points to the relevant SMP.
- Document and process specifications: Peppol BIS and Peppol PINT define the business data, document types and validation rules for supported processes.
- Governance: OpenPeppol maintains agreements, policies, code lists and technical specifications for service providers and Peppol Authorities.
Peppol itself is not governed by EU legislation. Laws such as Directive 2014/55/EU can create e-invoicing obligations, while OpenPeppol governs the network and its specifications.
Peppol BIS Billing 3 uses OASIS UBL 2.1 XML. EN 16931 also has syntax bindings for UBL and UN/CEFACT CII, but that does not mean suppliers can choose CII for a Peppol BIS Billing message. Other source formats, such as Svefaktura or Finvoice, normally need to be converted to a supported Peppol document unless the exact document type and process are registered and supported by the recipient.
The recipient’s published capabilities determine which documents can be delivered. A Peppol service provider handles discovery, validation and transport between the sender and receiver.
Looking for a general introduction? Read What is Peppol? or use the Peppol ID search.
