Peppol is an international network and set of standards that lets businesses and governments exchange electronic documents securely. It was originally created for European public procurement, and is now used worldwide for both B2B and B2G e-invoicing.

Many countries have made, or are making, e-invoicing mandatory for business transactions. A growing number of them use Peppol as the basis for their mandates, often with a local specification tailored to national requirements. Some countries also use Peppol for continuous transaction controls (CTC), where invoice data is reported to the tax authority.

How does Peppol work?

There are 4 steps for exchanging documents via Peppol:

• Document Creation: Businesses create electronic documents, such as invoices, purchase orders, or delivery notes, in standardized Peppol formats.

• Document Transmission: The documents are sent securely to the Peppol network through a certified Peppol Access Point, such as Tradeshift.

• Routing and Delivery: The sender's Access Point looks up the recipient's Peppol ID in the network directory and delivers the document to the recipient's Access Point.

• Document Reception: The recipient's system receives the document and processes it according to their own requirements.

In countries using the Peppol 5-corner model, the Access Point also reports the invoice data to the tax authority, which acts as a fifth corner in the exchange.

For more information about the Peppol network, please visit the official Peppol site. If you operate in a country where Peppol is or is becoming mandatory for e-invoicing, schedule a call with one of our representatives or reach out to your Tradeshift contact to get started. As a certified Peppol Access Point, Tradeshift can help you comply with e-invoicing mandates that require Peppol.