E-invoicing Platform » CEN

CEN Publishes CWA on European CORE Invoice Data

Editor — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:24:04 +0000

CEN has issued the CWA for a European CORE INVOICE data model. This CWA was developed the MUG project. The MUG project was common to 3 CEN Workshops: BII, eBES and eInvoicing 3.

CWA on European CORE Invoice Data

The full name of the CWA is “Guide for a European CORE INVOICE data model with UN/CEFACT CII Implementation Guideline” and consists of three volumes:

CWA 16356-1 : Introduction
CWA 16356-2 : European CORE INVOICE data model
CWA 16356-3 : European CORE INVOICE syntax mapping

Relationship with Multi Stakeholder Forum on E-invoicing

This CWA can be viewed as a part of the work program assigned to the recently established European Multi Stakeholder Forum on e-Invoicing:

Assist the Commission in the monitoring e-invoicing adoption level in industry and services across the Member States;
Bring about an exchange of experiences and good practices;
Point out problems with regard to cross-border transactions ;
Support and monitor work leading to the adoption of an e-invoice standard data model.

The MUG CWA is said to play a significant role in the track 4

Next steps: feedback based on ‘comply or explain’

To further establishing the value of the MUG CWA, CEN asks you to “consider the documents with from a (for the time being theoretical) ‘comply or explain’ point of view”. To be concrete: you are to answer the question whether or not you could adopt this CWA. And if not, explain or specify the reason(s) why.

Send your feedback

The feedback obtained can be used to generate a next version of the MUG CWA that complies with all the feedback obtained and hence will be an even greater contribution to track 4 mentioned above. I would appreciate getting your feedback via e-mail to the address peter.potgieser@rbs.com before October 22, 2011.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: CEN Publishes CWA on European CORE Invoice Data.

Public review of 3 Draft CEN E-invoicing Workshop Agreements (CWAs)

Editor — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:37:19 +0000

The CEN E-invoicing III Workshop released its 3 draft CWAs. They are open for a 60 days period of public review until 9 October 2011. It is beautiful to see how these CWA’s interlock with each other, the recent EC Communication, Decision and Directive and with the current European Interoperability Framework.

For legal professionals only: Model Interoperability Agreement

The full name is “Model Interoperability Agreement for Transmission and Processing of Electronic Invoices and other Business Documents”. It is a beefy 32 pages legal document, intended for use on a bilateral basis between service providers processing and transmitting structured data in a “FOUR CORNER MODEL”.

You can give it a go at: ftp://ftp.cen.eu/CEN/Sectors/List/ICT/CWAs/eInv3CWA1.pdf

For service providers only: conformance criteria for interoperability

The full name of this draft CWA is “Conformance Criteria for Interoperability between Electronic Invoicing Services” This CWA is intended for the use of providers of e-invoicing services to third party customers. It contains 7 technology neutral criteria that will find their way into the Code of Practice CWA that should be presented later this year.

This Draft CWA is available at: ftp://ftp.cen.eu/CEN/Sectors/List/ICT/CWAs/eInv3CWA2.pdf

The real deal: Addressing and Routing

One of the main items for full scale e-invoicing adoption is addressing: to know who and where to deliver an invoice to. Adrian Mueller is the main author of this CWA. He is also the main author of the must read “Cyber-Identity: Unique Identification Systems For Organizations And Parts thereof” (ftp://ftp.cen.eu/CEN/Sectors/TCandWorkshops/Workshops/CWA16036CyberID.pdf)

Take a look at this CWA at: ftp://ftp.cen.eu/CEN/Sectors/List/ICT/CWAs/eInv3CWA3.pdf

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Public review of 3 Draft CEN E-invoicing Workshop Agreements (CWAs).

UPDATE: Nifty EU E-invoicing Compliance Matrix

Editor — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:42:24 +0000

The website is offline, so the matrix doesn’t work

Today we stumbled on a nifty little interactive database lets you determine e-invoicing risks (why), requirements (what), controls (how), examples, guidance and implementation issues . It succeeds the original Excel sheet that was produced during the CEN/ISSS E-invoicing Phase II workshop and resembles very much the database developed by the EEI Platform (no longer available because Twitter bought the provider DabbleDB).

Manual
This how you can you determine e-invoicing risks (why), requirements (what), controls (how), examples, guidance and implementation issues:

Step 1
Go to http://130.208.242.38/ComplianceWeb/

Step 2
Determine what kind of actor you are: seller or buyer

Step 3
Determine the applicable process:

0 – Generic
1 – Prepare invoice data
2 – First mile
3 – Create E-Invoice
4 – Send or make available
5 – Receipt and technical verification
6 – Formal verification
7 – Last mile
8 – Material verification and processing
A – Trading partner on-boarding
B – Master Data
C – Archiving and auditability
D – Integrity and authenticity management
E – Trading partner off-boarding

Step 4
Determine what controllability class applies to you way e-invoicing:

A – Transparent and auditable processes
B – Controlled data exchanges
C – Data level controls
D – Outsourced safe-keeping

Step 5 (We didn’t get this one)
Determine your category:

Audit Control
Audit Trail
Confidentiality
Harmful to system
Integrity and authentication, reception
Integrity and authentication, sending
Invoice format
Invoice transformation
Once and only once delivery
Ondoarding testing
Sending prerequisite
Service provider selection
Storage period
Storage requirements

Step 6
See what items are applicable to you and the hit the question mark at the left of each item to let a pop up appear. In that pop up you see:

Risk (why):
Requirement (what):
Controls (how):
Examples:
Guidance issues:

Step 7
Select per item the content in the pop up with your cursor and copy it to you text editing software.

Again, it is a nifty little matrix that is part of on-going work so be aware that things can change. Now, wouldn’t it be nice to get your own, personalized, version without bothering to copy and paste all the applicable content? That also brings the question to mind to what group it’s targeted?

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: UPDATE: Nifty EU E-invoicing Compliance Matrix.

REVIEW REQUEST: Glossary of Electronic Invoicing Terms

Editor — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:05:11 +0000

Underneath are some recommendations of what terms could be included into a CEN Electronic Invoicing Glossary. The recommendated items stem from Phase II CWA’s, the Final Report of the Expert Group on Electronic Invoicing and the -new- VAT Directive.

It is expected that there will be modifications or additions to the glossary or terms in this glossary from the community around the EEI Platform.

To support the CEN E-invoicing Phase III in its efforts to create a uniform glossary on e-invoicing, we’ve put the concept glossary underneath. You can send your proposals for modification/additions/removals to:

- Tim Kniep: tim.kniep[at]nen[dot][nl
- Phillip H. Schmandt: pschmandt[at]mcginnislaw[dot]com

Term	Definition	Source
3-Corner Model	An exchange model where senders and receivers of invoices are connected to a single service provider for the dispatch and receipt of messages.	EU Expert Report
4-Corner Model	An exchange model where senders and receivers of invoice messages are supported by their own service provider..	EU Expert Report
Advanced electronic signature (AES)	Advanced electronic signature (AES) means an electronic signature which meets the following requirements: a) it is uniquely linked to the signatory; b) it is capable of identifying the signatory; c) it is created using means that the signatory van maintain under its sole control; and d) it is linked to the data to which it relates in such a manner that any subsequent change of the date is detectable.
Authentication	The process of verifying the identity of a person or system.	CWA 16049
Authenticity of origin	Means the assurance of the identity of the supplier or the issuer of the invoice.	Article 233(1) Council Directive, 2010/45/EU
BII	Business Interoperability Interfaces on public procurement in Europe (BII) is CEN Workshop providing a basic framework for technical interoperability in pan-European electronic transactions, expressed as a set of technical specifications that in particular are compatible with UN/CEFACT.	EU Expert Report
Bilateral exchange model	A model for the exchange of information directly between a buyer and a seller in a one-to-one relation.	CWA 16049
CEN	The European Committee for Standardization (ISO’s counterpart and the European entry point to UN/CEFACT). CEN Workshops are open consensus building platforms for contributing to standards, especially in the ICT area, and their product is a CEN Workshop Agreement.	EU Expert Report
Certification Authority (CA)	A CA is an entity which issues digital certificates identifying other parties.	EU Expert Report
Conversion	The act of automatically converting the format of an electronic invoice from the format of the sender to the format of the recipient (Format Conversion), or converting the encoding of content (e.g. different code list or units of measure), using agreed mapping processes that do not alter the information represented by the document (Content Conversion).	CWA 16047CWA 16049
Credit Note	Sent by the supplier to the buyer confirming that the supplier owes him money. It is an advice of a credit to be compensated against account balances payable as a result of a previous invoice.	CWA 16049
Cross-Industry Invoice (CII)	The CII is the term for the UN/CEFACT standardised invoice, which is the standardized format proposed by the Expert Group for automated invoice exchange.	EU Expert Report
Debit note	A reminder of an outstanding amount due under a previous invoice.	CWA 16049
Digital certificate	A set of structured data that has been electronically signed by a ‘certification authority’ to ‘bind’ the identity of a legal or natural person to a ‘public key’ that can be used e.g. to verify electronic signatures created by that person.	EU Expert Report
Digital signature	See Advanced Electronic Signature.	CWA 16049
EBPP	Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) is the electronic presentation of statements, bills, invoices, and related information sent by a company to its customers, and corresponding payment for goods or services.	EU Expert Report
EDI	Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) refers to the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents from one computer system to another (i.e.) from one trading partner to another trading partner.	EU Expert Report
EDI message	An electronic data interchange message (EDI message) consists of a set of information, structured using agreed formats, prepared in a computer readable form and capable of being automatically and unambiguously processed.	CWA 16049
E-Invoicing Service Provider or Service Provider	An organisation that, based on a contractual agreement, performs certain processes in relation to the Electronic Invoice life cycle on behalf of a Trading Partner, or that is active in the provision of support services necessary to realise such processes.	CWA 16047CWA 16049
Electronic invoice	Means an invoice that contains the information required by Council Directive 2010/45/EU and which has been issued and received in any electronic format.	Council Directive 2010/45/EU
Electronic Signature	Electronic signature means data in electronic form which is attached to or logically associated with other electronic data and which serves as a method of authentication.	EU Expert Report
Expert Group	The Group created under A Commission Decision of 31 October 2007 to make recommendations on e-invoicing, jointly sponsored by DG Enterprise & Industry and DG Internal Market & Services.	EU Expert Report
Format	The method of presentation of electronic data in an electronic document.	CWA 16047
Integrity of content	Means that the content required according to Directive 2010/45/EU has not been altered.	Article 233(1) Council Directive, 2010/45/EU
Interchange Agreement	The provisions of Interchange Agreements are intended to govern the rules of conduct and methods of operation between the Parties in relation to the interchange of data by EDI. Several models of Interchange Agreement have been developed by European and International bodies.	CWA 16047CWA 16049
Interoperability	A property referring to the ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together (inter-operate). The term is often used in a technical systems engineering sense, or alternatively in a broad sense, taking into account social, political, and organizational factors that impact system to system performance.	EU Expert Report
Invoice data	Data relating to an invoice, provided prior to the creation of original tax invoice or provided after its creation for other purposes.	EU Expert Report
Invoice header data	Data that relates to the whole invoice, e.g. invoice date, invoice number, seller and Buyer identification, name and address, bank account details etc. Some data is typically made available at header level in an invoice because it may be valid for all detail lines, but may be over ridden as necessary by making the data available at detail line level, e.g. discount, currency code, VAT rate, delivery address, tax point, etc.	CWA 16047CWA 16049
Invoice issuer	The person or organization making the invoice, claiming payment for the goods or services rendered to the customer.	CWA 16049
Invoice line data	Data that relates to the goods item or service being invoiced, e.g. goods item identification, quantity, price, description, etc… Some invoice line data may be made available in the header if it is valid for several invoice line items, but may be overruled at line level.	CWA 16047CWA 16049
IP Network	Internet Protocol is a series of standards from the Internet Engineering Task Force for exchanging data over the internet, a network of inter-communicating parties may agree to use it. Such networks may be publicly accessible or private.	EU Expert Report
ISO	The International Organization for Standards (ISO). ISO develops International Standards and other types of normative documents. ISO’s work programme ranges from standards for traditional activities, such as a Recommendations culture and construction, through mechanical engineering, manufacturing and distribution, to transport, medical devices, information and communication technologies, and to standards for good management practice and for services. ISO Technical Committee 68 ‘Financial Services’ is responsible for the ISO22022 standard.	EU Expert Report
ISO 20022	ISO 20022 is an International Standard from ISO. It constitutes the financial industries common platform for the development of messages in a standardised XML syntax, using a modelling methodology (based on UML) to capture in a syntax-independent way financial business areas, business transactions and associated message flows.	EU Expert Report
Issuer of an E-Invoice	The party issuing the electronic invoice (the Supplier or a party – a Service Provider or, in the case of Self-Billing, the Buyer – issuing the e-invoice in its name and on its behalf).	CWA 16047CWA 16049
Issuing an E-Invoice in name and on behalf of the Supplier	The process whereby a party other than the Supplier issues the invoice in the Supplier’s stead without taking over the Supplier’s accountability for that invoice vis-à-vis the Tax Administration. The issuing third party may be a Service Provider or, in the case of Self-Billing, the Buyer or its Service Provider.	CWA 16047
OASIS	See UBL.	EU Expert Report
Ordering	Ordering is the collaboration that creates a contractual obligation between the Seller Supplier Party and the Buyer Customer Party.	CWA 16049
Order-to-cash process / Order-to-cash cycle	The combined ordering-delivery-invoicing-payment process as part of the end-to-end trade process, from the seller’s perspective.	CWA 16049
Payment	The process in which the buyer ‘pays’ to the seller the agreed monetary value (as the contra-performance) through their respective payment service providers or banks. The result of this process is an exchanged and agreed payment (transfer of monetary value), including the applicable tax.	CWA 16049
PDF	The Portable Document Format (PDF) is the file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a device-independent and display resolution-independent fixed-layout document format. PDF is an open standard, and recently took a major step towards becoming ISO 32000. Check for updates.	EU Expert Report
PEPPOL	Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line (PEPPOL) is a consortium project, with the objective to pilot solutions to make it easier for European economic operators, in particular SMEs, from one country to respond electronically and in an interoperable way to public procurement opportunities and carry out the subsequent business transactions, including invoicing.	EU Expert Report
Public key	(1) the key of a signature key pair used to validate a digital signature or (2) the key of an encryption key pair used to encrypt confidential information.	CWA 16049
Purchase Order (PO)	Sent by the buyer to the supplier to inform him that he wishes to purchase goods, services or works.	CWA 16049
Purchase Order (PO) Change	Purchase order change, sent by the buyer to the supplier to inform him that he wishes to modify or cancel a previous order.	CWA 16049
Purchase Order (PO) Response	Purchase order response, sent by the supplier to the buyer (who has previously sent him an order) to accept the order fully or partially or to reject the order.	CWA 16049
Purchase portal	Portal of specific large procurer (receiver) to which his providers (senders) have to be connected to be able to deliver and bill to the procuring party.	CWA 16049
Qualified Electronic Signature	A Qualified Electronic Signature is an Advanced electronic signature which uses in addition a Qualified Certificate issued by a Certification Authority.
Qualified Electronic Signature	An advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and created by a secure signature-creation device	CWA 16049
Receipt Advice	Sent by the buyer to the supplier to acknowledge receipt in full or in part and notify when necessary of under/over-delivery, error or damage in the delivery.	CWA 16049
Receiver	The party receiving the invoice, usually the buyer or purchasing party.	CWA 16049
Remittance advice	A notice by the payer to the sender of the invoice that a payment has been made.	CWA 16049
Remittance data	Data containing payment details, used for reconciliation of payment data.	CWA 16049
Secure-signature-creation device	A signature-creation device which meets the requirements laid down in Annex III of DIRECTIVE 1999/93/EC	CWA 16049
Self-billed invoice	Invoice originated by the buyer and sent to the seller to cover goods or services supplied by the seller.	CWA 16049
Self-Billing	A method of invoicing whereby the Buyer issues the invoice in name and on behalf of the Supplier.	CWA 16047
Sender	The party submitting the invoice, as a rule the Seller or selling party.	CWA 16049
Service Level Agreement	A service-level agreement (SLA) is a negotiated agreement between two parties where one is the customer and the other is the service provider. This can be a legally binding formal or informal ‘contract’.	EU Expert Report
SME(s)	Small and Medium-sized Enterprise(s).	EU Expert Report
Storage format	The storage format is the format in which the invoice is stored and accessible for auditing reasons. The storage format is mainly subject to tax regulations, since the invoice receiver must be able to hand over the stored invoices in the case of a tax audit.	CWA 16049
Storage period of an electronic invoice	The amount of time that applicable law requires the electronic invoice to be stored and available for audit.	CWA 16047CWA 16049
Structured invoice document	(e.g. EDI or XML) Creation of a structured invoice document consists of the compilation of the required data into an agreed e-invoice message with a known structure, format and content such as is the case with EDI and XML messages. This means that contrary to the case with a paper document, where the receiver may well be unfamiliar with the format, with a structured invoice message the format is pre-defined and known to the parties involved.	CWA 16049
Tax Representative	Supplier party responsible for keeping VAT records and accounts for taxable transactions in another Member State.	CWA 16049
UN/Edifact	The United Nations / Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport rules for electronic data interchange for administration, commerce and transport, comprise a set of internationally agreed standards, directories and guidelines for the electronic interchange of structured data.	CWA 16049
Universal Business Language (UBL)	A library of standard electronic XML business documents such as purchase orders and invoices developed by a Technical Committee in OASIS (an industry standards consortium) with participation from a variety of industry data standards organisations.	CWA 16049
Unstructured invoice document	(e.g. PDF, JPEG, HTML or email) is an invoice that is created manually or automatically from a system and instead of printing it for submission on the spot or sending out, it is compiled into an electronic document. As an alternative, a traditional invoice can also become electronic by scanning the paper invoice into an electronic document.	CWA 16049
Value Added Network (VAN)	Third-party network service provider that offers specialised trade related services to trading parties connected through the VAN.	CWA 16049
VAT or Value-Added Tax	A consumption tax that is levied at each stage of production based on the value added to a product or service at that stage.	CWA 16047CWA 16049
Web Publication / Web Presentation	In the context of e-invoicing, a method of exchanging invoices with the Buyer by placing the original electronic invoice on an agreed web site, but where the original electronic invoice never leaves the secure closed environment operated by the Supplier.	CWA 16049

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: REVIEW REQUEST: Glossary of Electronic Invoicing Terms.

7 Major differences between the CIIv2 and ISO20022 new born standards

Editor — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:01:31 +0000

In an earlier post (http://eeiplatform.com/3994/uncefact-iso-20022-xml-orand-uncefact-cii2/) we mentioned the friction between the new-borns CIIv2 and ISO20022. This raised some comments both on the EEI Platform website and also on Finextra, where we reposted the story. Oriol Bausa provided the discussion with a Slideshare presentation on the differences and frictions between both standards. Some highlights:

Slideshare presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/oriolbausa/ciiv2-to-iso20022

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 7 Major differences between the CIIv2 and ISO20022 new born standards.

CEN/ Workshops BII 2 open call for project team experts

Editor — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 12:12:29 +0000

The – here it comes- ‘CEN Workshop on Business Interoperability Interfaces on Public Procurement in Europe phase 2′ also known as BII2, has agreed that a Project Team should be created to progress the deliverables that were agreed by the Workshop. Therefore an open call for experts has been launched.

Documentation:
ftp://ftp.cen.eu/CEN/Sectors/List/ICT/BII2_Call%20for%20experts.pdf

Budget
The number of man/days needed to achieve specified deliverables at page 2 is a whopping 811, to be distributed between 5 experts. With a maximum reimbursement of € 650 per person per day, makes a total budget of -again- a whopping € 527.150.

Current project and scope
Page 2 of the document states that the current project and scope is aimed at technical support:
- establishing a mechanism that allows interested parties to submit questions and queries to BII
- providing coordinated and consistent responses to questions and queries received in a timely manner
- maintain the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section of the BII web site
- provide draft updates to publications and deliverables as required for processing and approval by the WS

However, page 6 states that “The Project Team experts (Technical Editors) are responsible for the timely delivery and the high quality of the deliverables outlined in Annex3″. Page 2 and 6 seem to contradict, but we argue that the total budget is meant for both the ‘technical support’ AND the deliverables underneath:

1. Website:
- A web-site is currently available presenting the CWA 2010-16073 for browsing and downloads only.
- Deliverable: Establish and maintain a web-site (www.cenbii.eu) providing a full presentation of all deliverables and documents published by the BII and BII2 workshops. This web site should be a “living” presentation of all material aiming at providing maximum support for implementers and users. Due reference should be given to the official CWAs being published. (page 12)

2. Use of Profiles in Notification Processes:
Guidelines and recommendations on how the BII profiles and Transaction Data Models may be used to support business processes within Notification Processes.

3. Use of Profiles in Tendering Processes:
Recommendations on how the BII profiles and Transaction Data Models may be used to support business processes within the tendering phase, including Framework Agreements and Dynamic Purchasing Systems.

4. eNotification profiles:
Ensure that the appropriate Profiles and Transactions Data Models are available to support the eNotification phase in the pre-award processes. This is expected to include a review of existing Profiles and Transaction Data Models and potential updates and/or development of new Profiles and Transaction Data Models.

5. eTendering Profiles:
Ensure that the appropriate Profiles and Transactions Data Models are available to support the eTendering phase in the pre-award processes. This is expected to include a review of existing Profiles and Transaction Data Models based on the findings in the whitepapers on the use of profiles in the pre-award processes and potential updates and/or development of new Profiles and Transaction Data Models.

6. Core Transaction Data Models for eTendering
Ensure that the relevant core Transaction Data Models for the eTendering domain are available.

The initiation of this deliverable depends on the result of the deliverable regarding “eTendering Profiles”

7. Implementation and use of validation artefacts
Guidelines and recommendations related to the validation methodology and how this may be implemented in different user scenarios.

8. Syntax binding to UBL 2.1
Specification of syntax binding between UBL 2.1 and BII transaction Data Models.

9. Syntax binding to UN/CEFACT
Specification of syntax binding between UN/Cefact CII and BII transaction Data Models.

10. Definition of semantic information requirements in all profiles
Ensuring that the semantic information requirements are properly captured and documented according to the agreed methodology (Methodology for capturing semantic information requirements) for all BII Profiles and Transaction Data Models.

11. Validation artefacts
Ensuring that the validation artefacts are developed and published for BII Profiles, Collaborations and Transaction Data Models.

12. Presentation style sheets
Provide examples of presentation style sheets for core Transaction Data Models

13. Advanced Ordering Profile
Development of a BII profile providing support for the ordering business process

14. Order Management Profile
Development of a BII profile providing support for the management of an established order

15. Catalogue Subscription Profile
Development of a BII profile providing support for subscription to a catalogue,

16. Catalogue Quality
Guidelines and recommendations on how the appropriate quality may be ensured in a catalogue,

17. Code lists and identifier schemes
Review of the current code lists and identifier schemes currently defined for use in the BII transaction Data Models in order to ensure that user requirements are met and to ensure that the specified code lists and identifier schemes are maintained and mutually recognised

18. Application of digital signature
Documentation elaborating on the process of applying digital signature on syntax messages.

19. Coordination of European initiatives
- Currently there is limited coordination with other European initiatives.
- Deliverable: Liaison with key European initiatives and a provide a report identifying other European initiatives that are related to the activities of BII and outlining activities taken to coordinate the work of the various initiatives as well as provide recommendations on further activities needed.

20. Convergence of syntax solutions
The aim of this activity is to support the on-going convergence process between ISO 20022, UBL and UN/CEFACT within the scope of BII.

21 Communication plan execution/awareness
Create awareness based on execution of the communication plan developed in CEN BII Phase 1

Interested?
Interested candidate experts are kindly requested to send their application with CV and motivation by 2011-03-01 at the latest to the Workshop Secretary Mr Tim Kniep (tim.kniep@nen.nl). The candidate must indicate what position (Expert 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) he is applying for. Please note that companies can nominate their staff, and also any individual may apply as a candidate expert

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: CEN/ Workshops BII 2 open call for project team experts.

CEN/ISSS Call for 2 experts on EU CII MIG

Editor — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 10:13:02 +0000

The CEN/ISSS has issued a call for experts to create a Message Implementation Guideline. The CEN Workshops eBES (eBusiness Board for European Standardization), eInvoicing 3 (electronic Invoicing phase 3) and BII 2 (‘Business Interoperability Interfaces on public procurement in Europe’ Phase 2) are going to run a joint activity on “Core” Cross Industry Invoice European message Implementation guideline. They have agreed to set up a project team to support the project work.

The paid rate for the project team , experts is 650 €/person day. This rate is all cost included. It is expected that a considerable part of the work can happen electronically.The funding for the Project Team is made available via a specific Grant Agreement between CEN and the European Commission.

The terms of reference can be found here: http://bit.ly/byPQLf

Applications (motivation letter and CV) must be sent to Tim Kniep, project secretary, by the 23 November 2010 at the latest.

Source: CEN

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: CEN/ISSS Call for 2 experts on EU CII MIG.

New e-Procurement framework to lower costs

Editor — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:57:58 +0000

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) in Brussels has launched an e-Procurement framework to connect public organizations and private companies in the European Community. This will lead to increased e-commerce within the European Union and lower costs.

The new CEN Workshop Agreement on ‘Business Interoperability Interfaces’ (BII), was published today. It streamlines the processes in the supplier exchange and will have a huge impact on procurement in Europe.
e-Business and e-Procurement are high on the political agenda of the European Union. The European Commission made the development of an e-Procurement framework a top priority in both the 2002 and the 2005 eEurope Action Plans.

The Manchester Declaration states that by 2010 all public institutions must have the capability to carry out 100 % of their procurement electronically. “The support of the European Commission and European governments makes this the right time to invest in e-Procurement”, said Peter Borresen, chairman of the CEN Workshop.

This integration requires precisely defined interfaces on both sides. Besides the technical requirements, the semantics and the business part of the transaction have to be agreed upon. In this context, different jurisdiction regions, which might constitute an obstacle when moving towards a free and open European Market, have to be considered as well. Adding to the challenge are different interpretations of the EU Directive concerning electronic business. All of this calls for a clear definition and understanding of the business rules for e-Procurement.

The new e-Procurement framework supports cross border transactions, a very important asset of the European Union. Trading transactions within the community form the major share of all import and export transactions in all the member states. It is therefore important that those trading transactions are supported by cross border integration of the IT systems used by the partners involved.

Background information
A CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) is developed by a Workshop and reflects the consensus of identified individuals and organizations that are responsible for its contents. The CEN Workshop on Business Interoperability Interfaces (BII) started in 2007 as an initiative by a number of European countries within the CEN system. The objective was to prepare a next generation e-Procurement framework accepted across Europe. After 14 meetings and thousands of man-hours, this has now been achieved and the results are available free of charge.

The BII framework is available at the CEN web site at:
http://www.cen.eu/CENORM/Sectors/Sectors/ISSS/Activity/Ws_BII.asp

For more information, please contact Jostein Frömyr ( Jostein.fromyr@edisys.no ).

This CWA reflects the most recent technical and legal developments in Europe. They are ready for implementation as from today and have already been implemented in some European projects, such as PEPPOL (Pan-European Public eProcurement On-Line) and the e-invoicing project of the European Commission.

CEN/BII has agreed on business rules taking into account the differences that exist in the countries that are doing trade within the EU. The result provides a common interpretation of the EU Directive that is now ready to be used by the business partners and their system providers.

To secure appropriate governance and sustainability for the work initiated, the work of the BII workshop will move to its next phase. For more information, see: http://www.cen.eu/CENORM/Sectors/Sectors/ISSS/Activity/Ws_BII.asp

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: New e-Procurement framework to lower costs.

CEN/ISSS E-invoicing Workshop: Phase 3 preliminary meeting

Editor — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:50:17 +0000

CEN – European Committee for Standardization

At the last eInv2 WS plenary in September, it was decided to organize a meeting on 27 November 2009 in order to prepare the eInvoicing phase 3 project (this was confirmed in October).

The meeting will take place from 10:00 to 16:30, in the CEN/CENELEC Meeting Centre in Brussels:

Address:
Room Newton A
Avenue Marnix, 17
B-1000 Brussels

Agenda

1. Welcome, agenda

2. Meeting minutes

3.      Phase II
3.1.   Status CWA per task group
3.2.   Tasks identified for Phase 3 out of Phase 2
3.3.   Revision of CWA 15575

4.      Phase III
4.1.   Approval status of application on Phase 3
4.2.   Proposals from the Expert Group
4.3.   Status of revised Directive 112/2006
4.4.   Scoping discussion on Phase 3
4.5.   Alliances/Liaisons required for phase 3

5. Requirements for secretarial support and project management

6.      AOB
6.1.   Presentations on Phase 2
6.2.   Next meeting

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: CEN/ISSS E-invoicing Workshop: Phase 3 preliminary meeting.

Payment systems users warn of risks of SEPA failure

Editor — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:26:18 +0000

European business and consumer organisations are warning that plans to create a Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa) are doomed to failure unless payment systems end users are more widely consulted.

In a critical paper on the Sepa Direct Debit scheme – scheduled for introduction in November this year – the Payment Systems End User Committee (EUC), says businesses have little incentive to switch to the new payments instrument.

The Committee, which represents the views of eight major business trade associations, is also calling for an urgent review of the Sepa governance structure.

“Up to now, the payment users’ community has been more or less ignored,” say the report’s authors. “Sepa cannot achieve its goals unless users are fully involved in its construction. End-users, payment system providers and regulators must all be involved on an equal footing in a new Sepa governance structure.”

On Direct Debit, the EUC says that the current scheme proposed by the European Payments Council (CMF) offers fewer services than the existing national schemes. According to the EUC, end users have little incentive to switch to the new system. The position paper instead proposes a “CMF+” scheme offering a basic service coupled with tailored optional services at an extra cost.

EUC spokesman Olivier Brissaud says: “One year and a half after the launch of the first Sepa product, less than 2% of all credit transfers are made using the new system. Direct debit, which is the second Sepa product, risks a similar fate unless corrective action is taken before its launch in November this year.”

The European Commission is currently contemplating the introduction of a final end-date for the migration from legacy national payment systems as a means to stimulate wider uptake of the new Sepa-compliant intruments.

However, the EUC cautions that such a move could destabilise the entire Sepa project.

“No decision on end dates should be taken until the remaining areas of disagreement have been resolved to the satisfaction of end users,” states the report. “The setting of arbitrary end dates by legislation would result in a failure of Sepa.”

Read the full report:

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Payment systems users warn of risks of SEPA failure.

Presentations CEN/ISSS workshop Brussels June 18th

Editor — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:48:03 +0000

At June 18th 2009, the CEN/ISSS E-invoice Phase II held an open meeting in Brussels. The purpose of this meeting was to present the public with the more or less final results based on the objectives of this Phase II workshop:

An adoption programme for increased electronic invoicing in European business processes.

1. Compliance of electronic invoice implementations with Council Directive 2001/115/EC and the national legislation regarding electronic invoices;

2. Cost effective authenticity and integrity of electronic invoices and related business documents regardless of formats and technologies;

3. Implementation of compliant electronic invoice systems in using emerging technologies and business processes;

4. A framework for the emerging network infrastructure of ‘invoice operators’ throughout Europe.

These are the presentations that were held during this day.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Presentations CEN/ISSS workshop Brussels June 18th.

Dutch State Secretary launches website for digital billing

Editor — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:43:53 +0000

Together with Wim Mijs, director of the Dutch Association of Banks, State Secretary Heemskerk of Dutch Economic Affairs launched the website www.ViaMijnBank.nl last week.

Via this website, consumers and businesses receive information about the benefits of sending bills digitally. Moreover, customers of ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank ViaMijnBank are able to receive their invoices online, and pay online through their own secured banking environment.

In his speech at the launch of the website, Heemskerk pointed out the benefits of sending invoices digitally. Together with Marco Pastors (the government’s ambassador for e-invoicing ) Heemskerk aims for the government to receive and process 10 percent of all invoices electronically in 2010. “This will save businesses and tax payers a lot of money. Soon we will make these arrangements official by signing an agreement with national union VNO-NCW, MKB (SME) Nederland and the main government parties that send a lot of invoices,” the Secretary announced.

Besides the importance of e-invoicing, Heemskerk stressed the importance of innovation in services in general. “With this kind of initiatives, the banks show that they play a leading role when it comes to the use of ICT.” In other parts of the national services there is much profit to make. In general, productivity in the Dutch services is growing slowly. This has a negative effect on the competitiveness of this sector, particularly concerning the current crisis. A closer look is currently taken at this situation to unveil the cause of this backlog. The Ministry of Economic Affairs also helps sectors to digitize their activities by implementing the program ‘The Netherlands Connected Digitally’ (www.ndiv.nl).

www.ez.nl

www.viamijnbank.nl

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Dutch State Secretary launches website for digital billing.

Majority of enterprises in the EU27 had a website in 2008

Editor — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:37:54 +0000

Broadband access is increasing

In the EU27, 93% of enterprises of ten or more persons employed had access to the internet in January 2008, the same as in January 2007, and 81% of enterprises had a broadband internet connection, up from 77% in January 2007. On average in the EU27, 64% of enterprises had a website in January 2008, compared with 63% in January 2007. These data2 come from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, and form part of the results of a community survey conducted at the beginning of 2008 on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in enterprises in the EU27 Member States, Iceland and Norway. Besides the indicators presented, the survey also covers e-commerce, e-government and e-business indicators.

Almost all enterprises in the Netherlands and Finland have internet access
In January 2008, the highest proportions of enterprises with internet access in the EU27 were recorded in the Netherlands and Finland (both 99%), Denmark (98%) and Belgium, Austria and Slovenia (97% each). The percentage was less than 90% in only five Member States: Romania (67%), Bulgaria (83%), Hungary (86%), Latvia (88%) and Cyprus (89%).

The proportion of enterprises with a broadband connection in January 2008 was above 90% in Spain, France and Finland (92% each) and in Belgium (91%). Only in Romania (44%), Lithuania (56%) and Poland (59%) did less than 60% of enterprises have a broadband connection.

The data show that while internet access appears to be approaching saturation in nearly all Member States, the level of broadband internet access is still increasing.

Below you can view the outcome of the survey:

Source: Eurostat

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Majority of enterprises in the EU27 had a website in 2008.

French banks down tools on EU-wide payment project

Editor — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:19:16 +0000

French banks have suspended the launch of new pan-European payment services due to confusion over tariffs in the latest setback for a key EU project to improve consumer choice and boost growth.

The European Union has plans for a single euro payments system or SEPA to give its 495 million consumers cheap payments of bills and purchases in euros from a single bank account. The move is designed to encourage cross-border competition and spur the creation of jobs and growth, the EU’s executive European Commission has said.

The project requires the bloc’s 8,000 banks to invest billions of euros changing their systems to comply with common SEPA standards on credit transfers, direct debits and payment cards. SEPA-compliant credit transfers were launched in January by banks across the EU but the French Banking Federation (FBF) said on Thursday its members have suspended work pending clarification from European authorities on tariffs, in particular charging for services that banks supply to each other, it said in a statement.

‘As long as these rules are not clarified, the French banks, like many European banks, cannot start the work on the timetable because like all businesses, banks need to know their economic and legal risks,’ the statement said.

Banks across the EU are worrying how the new services would be paid for after last December when the Commission said MasterCard’s interchange fee on its cross-border credit cards and Maestro direct debit cards violated EU competition rules.

The interchange fee is charged to retailers for processing a card payment but retailers have dubbed it a tax on consumers. MasterCard is appealing the decision, a process that will take months but the November 2009 deadline for a full switch to SEPA products in Europe is looming.

The Commission and the European Central Bank has said banks could use an interchange fee on direct debits but only for an ‘interim period’ and if it was justified — a move that banks say has ‘destabilised’ their planned SEPA business models.

Source: www.reuters.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: French banks down tools on EU-wide payment project.

Intelligent PDF: removing barriers?

Editor — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:25:17 +0000

Last week, Adobe presented its intelligent PDF eInvoicing solution in a white paper. Adobe proposes an end-to-end approach in which the e-invoice is interpretable by both humans and computer systems. The Adobe approach is based on the eInvoicing processes as described by the CEN/ISSS Workshop on Compliance of e-Invoices and is expected to be compliant with EU and respective national VAT regulations.

The importance of the CEN/ISSS Workshop deliverables
The Adobe whitepaper shows once again the importance of the deliverables of the CEN/ISSS Workshop deliverables. At this point the Workshop is in its second phase, having delivered at least one groundbreaking deliverable: the Draft Good Practice Guidelines. These guidelines are available here, here and soon on www.cenfiscalesguidelines.com Some groups with other interests on e-invoicing do not quite agree with these Guidelines. But we arguably can not ignore the fact that this is a serious attempt to remove one of the major barriers on e-invoicing: uncertainty on e-invoicing.

Intelligent PDF: removing barriers?
The intelligent PDF approach presented by Adobe could also serve as a mean to remove a barrier to e-invoicing: adoption in a B2B environment.

E-invoicing is acknowledged to be an unstoppable innovation across and outside Europe. Taking a leap in the future, full scale e-invoicing would mean that the vast majority of organisation is not only sending e-invoices, but also –and this very important– receiving e-invoicing.

One of the results from a major survey conducted by e-business watch showed that most of the companies prefer to receive e-invoices per e-mail in PDF. This is not the answer that some of the BSP would like to hear. But it clearly shows that receivers are in need of control over the inbound e-invoice.

The intelligent PDF approach of Adobe does just that. It combines the humanly interpretable PDF with a for computer systems readable XML format. So now we can receive and read the PDF invoice and having established the perception of control over the e-invoice, we can now extract and import the XML data into our financial software.

This enables e-invoicing between business partners regardless of size, sector, business processes and accounting software. If in fact the intelligent PDF approach guarantees compliance with the respective national VAT legislation, it would also be usable in cross border e-invoicing.

Intelligence in authenticity and integrity?
Interestingly enough, the Adobe intelligent PDF whitepaper mentions the possibility to sign the PDF document. So the PDF document is the format that is being used for formal validation. The invoice’s XML data can be submitted for material validation against external documentation such as supplier contracts. E-invoices archived in PDF/A guarantee the fidelity of the invoice, while the use of XML ensures that invoice data can be transformed to any format required by auditing software.

Maybe it is also interesting to use the XML data for formal validation. This would implicate that not only the PDF document is signed, but also the XML file, for instance with XADES or XMLDSIG. Then, the XML feed can also be used for formal validation even when archived. Additionally it would be very interesting for SME’s to use the PDF document for material validation.

So, the Adobe intelligent PDF is more intelligent compared to the plain old PDF docyument. We can expect it to have an impact on removing the barrier of awareness, including the aspect of adoption by have the perception of being in control. And maybe the approach can be made even more intelligent by incorporating XML signing. This would be very interesting because then it would not matter which document is being used for formal validation: PDF or XML, or both. Creating ease of use (which will be explained in the next Featured Article).

Read the Adobe white paper here:

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Intelligent PDF: removing barriers?.

First release of OASIS UBL 2.0 IDD begins public review

Editor — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:45:34 +0000

The first set of UBL 2.0 data dictionary translations is now out for public review. The first set of UBL 2.0 data dictionary can be downloaded from http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/idd/UBL-2.0-idd.zip.

Created by OASIS UBL localization subcommittees (LSCs) to aid in global UBL deployment, this package provides translations of the 1900+ standard UBL business term definitions into Japanese, Italian, and Spanish.

The International Data Dictionary (IDD) provides speakers of those languages with a key to the meanings of the standardized XML tags used in UBL 2.0 business documents. The translations are provided as ODF and Excel files using the same spreadsheet format as the data models in the OASIS UBL 2.0 Standard, as recently updated: http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.0-update/mod/.

Subsequent releases of the IDD will include corrections based on input from the international user community and translations into other languages as they become available. Persons wishing to start a UBL localization subcommittee should contact the IDD editor and chair of the UBL TC, Jon Bosak (bosak@ibiblio.org).

Further information:
OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) TC
Download
Index of /ubl/os-UBL-2.0-update/mod/

Source: www.epractice.eu

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: First release of OASIS UBL 2.0 IDD begins public review.

CEN / Adobe: Intelligent PDF and XML for legally valid electronic invoicing

Editor — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:12:47 +0000

The following publication explains a way of using Intelligent PDF to support compliante Invoicing solutions. Adobe has worked together with CEN to create a white paper in which a relatively new type PDF solution is worked out.
The PDF is an intelligent message. The PDF document offers not only an optical readable invoice, but also billing data extracted in XML. Besides this, even charging can be audited.

Read the entire article here:

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: CEN / Adobe: Intelligent PDF and XML for legally valid electronic invoicing.

Océ outsources IT in Europe to Atos Origin

Editor — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:35:13 +0000

Océ, an international leader in digital document management, has outsourced the IT support for its European sales companies to Atos Origin, an international IT services provider. This will result in 65 Océ staff working for Atos Origin in 16 countries. Effective 1 November 2008, the contract has been signed for a duration of 7 years and pertains to the implementation and support of standard IT solutions provided by Atos Origin.

Atos Origin will contribute significantly to Océ’s transition to a central European IT organization, which will make it easier and less expensive to provide support to its operating companies and result in greater flexibility at lower cost.

“Outsourcing the IT support for our European sales companies helps us improve our operational processes. The move is part of our previously announced cost savings program, in which 950 job positions are being eliminated. In so doing we will realize € 130 million in savings in 2008 and 2009,” said Jan Dix, member of the Océ Board of Executive Directors, responsible for IT. By outsourcing its IT services, a total of 65 Océ staff will transfer to Atos Origin and an additional 20 jobs disappear due to attrition, resulting in a reduction of 85 IT job positions at Océ.

Atos Origin will be responsible for the management of over 6,000 workplaces and the management of current local applications in Océ’s sales companies in 16 European countries. Other services that Atos Origin offers involve network, server and LAN management, and the management of Océ’s telephone network in Europe.

Continuity and flexibility
“In Europe, Atos Origin has a proven track record in outsourcing and in implementing this kind of IT project”, said Wilfred de Herder, CIO at Océ. “This agreement contributes to strengthening our market position, achieving cost reductions, and improving flexibility. Atos Origin offers our IT staff a solid perspective. All 65 are highly qualified specialists who will be employed in a challenging and professional environment at Atos Origin.”

“This agreement with Océ enables Atos Origin to significantly strengthen its position on the European outsourcing market and to further establish our leading position in the high-tech market”, says Rob Pols, CEO at Atos Origin in The Netherlands. “The agreement offers an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that we have the necessary expertise and experience to manage and implement large and complex international IT projects.”

About Océ
Océ is one of the world’s leading providers of document management and printing for professionals. The broad Océ offering includes office printing and copying systems, high speed digital production printers and wide format printing systems for both technical documentation and color display graphics. Océ is also a foremost supplier of document management outsourcing. Many of the world’s Fortune 500 companies and leading commercial printers are Océ customers. The company was founded in 1877. With headquarters in Venlo, the Netherlands, Océ is active in over 90 countries and employs some 24,000 people worldwide. Total revenues in 2007 amounted to € 3.1 billion. Océ is listed on Euronext in Amsterdam. For more information on Océ, visit the corporate website: www.oce.com.

About Atos Origin
Atos Origin is an international information technology services company. Its business is turning client vision into results through the application of consulting, systems integration and managed operations. The company’s annual revenues are EUR 5,8 billion and it employs over 50,000 people in 40 countries. Atos Origin is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games and has a client base of international blue-chip companies across all sectors. Atos Origin is quoted on the Paris Eurolist Market and trades as Atos Origin, Atos Worldline and Atos Consulting.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Océ outsources IT in Europe to Atos Origin.

EU: Prototype IDABC eInvoicing and eOrdering project ready

Editor — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:40:26 +0000

The European Commission IDABC eInvoicing and eOrdering project team has recently reached an important milestone: the delivery of the prototype. It allows the sending of an XML invoice to the Commission’s e-PRIOR system and the automatic integration in the back-office system after a number of validations. The major next step is a real-life pilot with a number of IT suppliers.

The e-PRIOR (electronic PRocurement, Invoicing and ORdering) prototype has been developed inside the Commission’s infrastructure and is hosted in its datacentre.

The prototype currently supports:
- the sending of an XML invoice through secured web services;
- the sending of a separate attachment;
- the sending of a status request message, which returns the status of the invoice.

User access, logging and a business document viewer have also been implemented.
The prototype was demonstrated to the IDABC programme’s Technical Working Group and formally endorsed by the ‘Pan-European eGovernment Services Committee’ (PEGSCO) which is the IDABC programme’s management committee.

The next project phase includes:
- Running a real-life pilot with a number of existing IT and telecom suppliers;
- Organising a post-pilot workshop to share the lessons learnt of the pilot;
- Developing additional use cases, including disputes and credit notes;
- Analysing the eOrdering process.

This phase should be completed before the summer holiday of 2009. During the final phase, the pilot will be extended with the additional use cases whilst the eOrdering process is being developed.

Final step
As a final step, all project deliverables will be packaged for dissemination. Collaboration with other eInvoicing and standardization initiatives is seen as very important, and contributions have been made to:

- The Expert Group on eInvoicing
- The PEPPOL project
- The CEN/BII workshop, where the IDABC eInvoicing and eOrdering project team is now even chairing the subgroup working on the usage of code tables.

A major contribution has been made towards the redefinition of the profiles, making them modular and complementary, resulting in decoupling the profiles from any message standard like UBL or UN/CEFACT.

Where applicable or possible, concepts and tools have been re-used from Member States, such as the NES/UBL XML formats and profiles, stylesheets and validator tools. Member States will equally be able to re-use deliverables and results from this project, such as XML definitions, stylesheets, approaches or concepts, programming code and architecture documents.

Further information:
e-PRIOR case in ePractice IDABC website
eProcurement news & good practice
e-PRIOR demo on You Tube

source: www.epractice.eu

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: EU: Prototype IDABC eInvoicing and eOrdering project ready.

Promoting eServices in rural areas in Spain

Editor — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:59:22 +0000

The Spanish Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade and the Minister for Public Administrations have launched a new training programme aimed at promoting the use of eGovernment services by the citizens of rural areas, so as to break the digital divide.

The initiative is intended to bring the citizens of rural areas closer to all three levels of Government in Spain by enabling them to benefit from the approximately 900 central, regional and local public services available on the eGovernment portal ‘060.es’.

Named ‘Telecentres training and revitalization plan’, the €2 million project relies on the network of Red.es Telecentres; those free Internet access points located across Spain’s rural areas. Over 500 Telecentres trainers will, within 1 500 Telecentres, instruct the population on how to perform operations via the eGovernment portal and to obtain information by electronic means.

In this light, printed and audiovisual information material have been designed in a clear language, with practical examples of the citizens’ daily life aspects, so as to demonstrate the advantages of the portal. In addition, distinct multimedia information packs are being conceived following the specific profiles (youngsters, women, seniors, immigrants, etc) structuring the portal. This material will include information on each target group’s most used services, as well as on the use of the national eID card.

Miguel Sebastián, Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade stressed that following the successful deployment of Telecentres, his department will concentrate its efforts on the “valorisation of the infrastructure” by adding “services associated to the Telecentres”. He informed that the launch of the ‘Telecentres training and revitalisation plan’ is the first measure in this direction, and that it is based on the Training axis of the Avanza2 programme.

The plan has already started being implemented in 304 Telecentres in the regions of Andalusia and Asturias, with 150 dedicated trainers involved. Later on, the plan will focus on the regions of Castile and León, the Canary Islands and Murcia, and then on Galicia, the Valencian Community, Castile-La Mancha and Extremadura.

Source: Epractice.eu

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Promoting eServices in rural areas in Spain.

Study: electronic provision of certificates and attestations

Editor — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:37:07 +0000

Final Report and National Country Profiles

This is a preliminary study by Siemens ansd Time.lex on the electronic provision of certificates and attestations usually required in public procurement procedures.

Description (short summary):
The Preliminary Study on the electronic provision of certificates and attestations in public procurement procedures aims to examine how different European countries (EU, candidate countries and EEA) currently manage the use of certificates and attestations in procurement procedures, particularly in an eProcurement context.

The goal of the study is to identify if and how electronic certificates and attestations are currently issued, accepted and validated in public procurement procedures across these countries, and if and how their eProcurement systems could be modified or amended to support non-national electronic certificates and attestations, thus facilitating cross border economic activities in these countries and contributing to the creation of an internal market for electronic procurements.

As a part of this study, a series of scenarios were created that could be used to build interoperability between existing eAttestation systems, i.e. to ensure that electronic attestations from a tenderer established in one country could be presented to a contracting authority in a different country. These scenarios were then comparatively assessed in order to determine the most efficient or promising ones, and roadmaps were subsequently drafted to implement the most favoured interoperability scenarios. Finally, the study presents a number of recommendations for future actions to gradually improve the availability and usability of electronic attestations in public procurement procedures.

The Final Report of the study has been published in September 2008, together with a report on the electronic attestations and certificates used in 32 European countries (National Country Profiles).

Read the entire report by clicking this link:

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Study: electronic provision of certificates and attestations.

Commission launches survey to assess up-take and experience of Public eProcurement

Editor — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:57:22 +0000

Electronic Public Procurement: the European Commission has launched an online survey to assess up-take and experience of practitioners. The survey will remain open until 18 December 2008.

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market and Services has commissioned Ernst & Young to conduct an evaluation of the effective up-take of electronic public procurement (“eProcurement”) across the EU.

In particular, the evaluation will assess how well the objectives of the “Action plan for the implementation of the legal framework for electronic public procurement” (the so-called Action Plan for eProcurement), adopted by the European Commission in December 2004, have been achieved.

In this context, an online survey, available in English, French and German has been launched on 23 October 2008. It is aimed at four different categories of specific users:

1. Suppliers who may have conducted business with public purchasers in a traditional and/ or an eProcurement procedure.

2. Contracting authorities/entities which may have awarded works, supplies or services contracts via traditional and/or eProcurement procedures.

3. Central Purchasing Bodies, i.e. specialised procurement entities which centralise or co-ordinate the purchase of works, supplies or services for one or more contracting authorities/entities at national, regional, local or vertical levels. As such, they may have awarded works, supplies or services contracts via traditional and/or eProcurement procedures.

4. Member State institutions responsible for public procurement policy, or related technical or legal aspects.

eProcurement is a complex and technical issue. In order to obtain the necessary information, essential for a comprehensive evaluation of the various issues, the questions asked cover a fairly wide range of topics. To facilitate responses, structured answers have been provided wherever possible (i.e. tick boxes) and free text answers have been kept to a minimum. However, respondents are also invited to provide any additional comments at the end of the questionnaire. Such free text contributions would be particularly valuable and can be made in any EU language. Equally, where an exact response to a question would involve extensive research, it is better to provide a best estimate rather than no answer at all.

The results of this survey will be collected in a report, which will be made available during the second half of 2009. All respondents to the questionnaire will receive a summary of the results.

Those interested in participating in this survey are invited to send an email to survey.eproc@it.ey.com and they will receive a logon identity and password. For technical reasons, it is not possible to provide a direct link to the survey without loosing some of the more “user friendly” aspects of the application (most importantly the ability to save as the respondent moves from page to page, allowing a questionnaire to be completed at one’s convenience, or by several users, rather than in one sitting).

Source: epractice.eu

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Commission launches survey to assess up-take and experience of Public eProcurement.

TIE to acquire MamboFive

Editor — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:08:39 +0000

TIE Holding N.V. (“TIE”) hereby announces that it has entered into a tentative agreement to acquire MamboFive B.V., an e-Business software company based in The Netherlands. The transaction completes TIE’s portfolio of the TIE Kinetix e-Business products and solutions and creates further business development opportunities for up-selling TIE Kinetix to the expanded customer base.

This acquisition fits well into TIE’s strategy of acquiring businesses that strengthen TIE’s bottom line, whilst providing expansion of the product and service potential. The acquisition is expected to contribute to TIE’s revenue and profitability.

Following the completion of the financial, technical en legal due diligence, and the agreement for the purchase of 51% of the shares, TIE shall pay a purchase price amounting to EUR 200,000. The purchase price for the first 51% of the shares also contains a short term 5% annual interest bearing loan amounting to EUR 300,000. On March 1, 2009, TIE requires to pay the loan and interest to the shareholders of MamboFive.

Regarding an additional 24,5% of the shares, TIE receives an option to buy them per April 1, 2009 for a purchase price of EUR 450,000. In order to acquire the final 24,5% of the shares, TIE receives an option to buy them for a purchase price of EUR 450,000. In case TIE determines to exercise the options, TIE will issue convertible bonds amounting to the purchase price. Each convertible bond has a notional term of five years and a lock-up amounting to 1 year. The convertible bonds are non-interest bearing and the conversion rate of each bond will be based upon the average closing rate of the last 4 days prior to the closing date or exercise date as well as the closing date or exercise date, always with a minimum of EUR 0.10.

The total purchase price for the acquisition of all shares of MamboFive therefore amounts to EUR 1.4m. The company has decided to split the transaction in order to anticipate on the current circumstances in the financial markets, and therefore provides itself with multiple decision moments to evaluate the financial market status at that moment. TIE expects to finalize the agreement after the publication of the annual results, which is planned on November 26, 2008.

With the addition of MamboFive, TIE will be able to deliver its customers a complete state-of-the-art TIE Kinetix e-Business solution, including a web shop. Our customers can now connect and integrate with their trading partners in the supply chain in every possible way, whether it’s the support of online orientation for their customers, online selling or online fullfillment. Therefore they can keep their business virtual as long as possible and save valuable time and money and even grow their revenue.

TIE will also be able to deliver its Business-to-Business integration know-how and solutions to the customers of MamboFive, who are predominantly in the telecom industry. Customers of MamboFive are KPN, HI, Debitel, AH Mobiel, Vodafone and e-tailers such as Elders Websales and Slimshops.

“Combining with TIE provides a significant opportunity to further accelerate our combined business”, said Frank van Doorn, Director of MamboFive. “We have been looking for possibilities to provide our clients additional services and complete solutions. We are very pleased to be able to integrate our MamboFive solutions in the TIE Kinetix platform. This will enable us to realize substantial growth in new markets and to extend the business with our existing clients”.

“Web shops and e-business solutions are the final step in our vision of offering a full range of e-business solutions to our customers”, says Jan Sundelin, CEO of TIE. “MamboFive delivers a full multi-channel concept, including shop-in-shop. With the acquisition of MamboFive we have a very powerful solution for our clients in doing their business online via a web shop.”

About MamboFive
MamboFive delivers and implements e-business solutions based on her standard MamboFive Commerce Suite (MCS), which is suitable for B2B and B2C solutions.
MCS is a fully ‘Web Enabled ERP’ for the internet entrepreneur. New technologies such as e-procurement, web shops, catalogue management and web services can be implemented upon the existing investments in financial and logistic systems.

The company was established in 2000 and is headquartered in Utrecht, in the center of the Netherlands. It developed the MamboFive Commerce Suite especially for midsize and large enterprises who can implement the software package quickly without high investments. MamboFive’s main focus is the high end corporate retail segment. The client reference list comprises strong corporate brands as KPN, HI, Debitel, Vodafone, Fujitsu-Siemens, SimYo Belgium, Simac ICT and Elders Websales (GSM.nl).
MamboFive also has a strong position in the mid segment with runner up companies and niche players who require state-of-art solutions for their e-businesses.

Profile TIE
Master Data Management Software Company TIE (NYSE Euronext: TIE Holding) bridges the gap between online and traditional business. TIE helps industry and supply chain partners to achieve electronic business collaboration with solutions in the traditional and upcoming markets like Data Quality Management, e-Invoicing, Master Data Management and Digital Channel Communications. Our solutions are proven to lower costs, increase revenue and optimize business processes. Because we have decades of experience to share, TIE remains a key contributor to the development and implementation of global eCommerce standards. TIE is a publicly held company with offices in the United States, France, and the Netherlands.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: TIE to acquire MamboFive.

Draft Good Practice Guidelines: how to comply with e-invoicing regulations?

Editor — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:29:58 +0000

Late June 2008 the CEN/ISSS eInvoice Phase II Workshop unveiled the Draft Good Practice Guidelines. The objective of this document is to reduce some of the principal areas of uncertainty and resulting inefficiencies on the e-invoicing market with one single set of good practice. These guidelines should be applicable to both businesses and tax administrations across Europe.

CEN and eInvoicing
CEN is acronym for: COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION and has a focus on standardisation aspects. CEN carries out numerous standardisation efforts, one of which is the CEN/ISSS initiative. CEN/ISSS is the name given to CEN’s ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) sector activities. It provides market players with a comprehensive and integrated range of standardisation services and products, in order to contribute to the success of the Information Society in Europe. CEN/ISSS works through CEN Focus Groups, Technical Committees and Workshops.

The CEN/ISSS eInvoicing Phase II Workshop
The CEN/ISSS Workshop Phase II has assumed the overall responsibility, as far as CEN is concerned, for the standards aspects of the European Commission’s expert group on electronic invoicing, complementing and linking with the relevant Commission groups, and ensuring the relevant global standards activities are correctly informed and primed. In this activity, it aims to ensure collaboration with other CEN/ISSS groups, including WS/ePPE and WS/eBES, with UN/CEFACT (TBGs1 and 5), ISO TC 68 and ETSI/TC ESI.

The eInvoicing Phase II Workshop objectives
The objective of this particular Workshop is to help to fill gaps in standardization for the use of electronic invoice processes, to identify the various practices in member states, to integrate the emerging technical and practical solutions into effective good practices, and to define and disseminate these good practices for e-invoices in close coordination and cooperation with private industry, solution providers and public administrations.

Five initial projects
Five initial Task Groups (TG’s) have been established with a focus on:

- Enhanced adoption of electronic invoicing in business processes in Europe;

-          Compliance of electronic invoice implementations with Council Directive 2001/115/EC and Directive on the Common
   System of Value Added Tax (2006/112/EC) as well as Member States’ national legislation as regards electronic
   invoicing

- Cost-effective authentication and integrity of electronic invoices regardless of formats and technologies

- Effective implementation of compliant electronic invoice systems in using emerging technologies and business
processes and

- Emerging network infrastructure of invoice operators throughout Europe.

TG2 and TG3: The Draft Good Practice Guidelines

TG 2 (compliance of electronic invoice implementations) and TG 3 (cost effective authentication and integrity) decided to cooperate and created the Draft Good Practice Guidelines. The Draft Good Practice Guidelines identify two major obstacles when it comes to the regulatory aspects of e-invoicing adoption.

First, “businesses that implement electronic invoicing are often faced with thousands of technical and process implementation options along the way. In the absence of implementation-relevant rules emanating from tax administrations or standards bodies, the uncertainty surrounding these many choices creates a significant barrier to investment in electronic invoicing. As a result, for those vendors and users that choose to invest nevertheless, it is hard to make any value judgment as to how “compliant” their services and solutions are. Corporate e-invoicing users, Service Providers and solution vendors that are taking steps to develop and maintain VAT-compliant services naturally have a desire to have to a concrete yardstick against which to measure and with which to demonstrate their compliance.”

Second, nowadays “most tax administrations do not provide accreditation services or self-assessment programmes to assist e-invoicing users or their Service Providers to ascertain that e-invoicing systems are VAT-compliant. Tax administrations’ audit methodologies and tools are often developed based on the experiences of law enforcement and not widely propagated to businesses as compliance checklists.”

How it works

As stated above, the Draft Good Practice Guidelines seek to reduce some of the principal areas of uncertainty and resulting inefficiencies on the e-invoicing market with one single set of good practice Guidelines for both businesses and tax administrations.

It consists of two documents: one word document and one Excel sheet.

The Word document provides context to the Excel document and tries to explain how one should use the Excel. The Excel sheet identifies the main issues in question at each processing step during the life cycle of an electronic invoice for different invoicing methods (direct invoicing from Supplier to Buyer as well as Self-Billing) and provides detailed process guidance for a variety of implementation options including web publication, the use of various integrity and authenticity-enhancing methods and the retention of electronic invoices.

The Excel sheet takes into account:

- who directs the e-invoicing process

- whether an intermediate party is involved

- the possibility of a self billing variant

- the method being used to guarantee authenticity and integrity: EDI, digital signatures, other instruments

- the predefined (business) process steps necessary to perform e-invoicing

Based on your choices in these variables, the Excel sheet should be able to present you:

- the inherent tax risks that your organisation poses when initiating e-invoicing based on the choices made.

- the tax requirements necessary or even obligatory needed to address the risks

- the controls or solutions that should be in place to ensure the risks are avoided

Concluding remarks
The Draft Good Practice Guidelines are very promising, as they are intended to rule out uncertainty on e-invoicing form a legal/VAT/compliance perspective.But there are some downsides to this version of the Draft Good Practice Guidelines.

Hence the only two percepted barriers to full scale adoption of e-invoicing: standardisation and awareness, would remain.

First of all the Excel sheet does not, or at least not very easily, provide the results needed for an organisation get a sense of safety. It might be a good idea to create a database version that is much more accessible.

Second, this Draft Good Practice Guideline is still a concept. Or as the Word document states: “These Guidelines and Commentary are a work in progress and out for review. While every effort has been made to ensure consistency with legal requirements that apply to e-invoicing in the European Union, no guarantees of legal compliance or fitness for purpose are made by the drafters or CEN; any use of these documents is at the user’s own risk”.

Download the Draft Good Practice Guidelines (Word)
Download the Draft Good Practice Guidelines (Excel)

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Draft Good Practice Guidelines: how to comply with e-invoicing regulations?.

Commission proposes clear legal framework for innovative payment solutions

Editor — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:23:43 +0000

The European Commission has put forward a proposal revising the current rules governing the conditions for issuing electronic money in the EU. The proposal follows extensive consultation (see IP/05/930) which showed that the current rules, dating from 2000, have hindered the take-up of the electronic money market, hampering technological innovation. The revised rules will facilitate market entrance for new providers and contribute to develop an industry whose expected volume could reach up to EUR 10 billion by 2012.

Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said: “The e-money industry has significant untapped growth potential. I believe that the new rules will accelerate the up-take of electronic money in Europe. These modern rules will foster competition and innovation, while ensuring market confidence and a high level of protection for consumers. This will be an important contribution to our broad objective of creating a Single Market for electronic payments.”

Proposed new rules for issuing e-money

The proposal provides for a modern and coherent legal framework for issuing electronic money, with the aim of promoting the emergence of a true single market for electronic money services in the European Union. The main innovations proposed are as follows:

a technologically neutral and simpler definition of “electronic money”, covering all situations where the payment service provider (an e-money institution or a credit institution) issues a prepaid stored value in exchange of funds. Electronic money is therefore defined as monetary value stored electronically on receipt of funds and which is used for making payment transactions. This definition covers e-money held on payment devices in the holder’s possession (pre-paid cards or electronic purse) or stored remotely at a server (network or software money).

a new prudential regime, ensuring greater consistency between prudential requirements of electronic money institutions and payment institutions under the Payment Services Directive 2007/64/CE (IP/07/1914). The new prudential requirements include an initial capital of EUR 125.000 enabling market entrance for smaller players and a new formula to determine ongoing capital. The waiver regime, according to which small entities can obtain derogation for some of the authorisation requirements, is aligned with that of payment institutions under the Payments Services Directive, and anti-money laundering requirements are updated.

a clarification of the application of redemption requirements, with special reference to their application to mobile telecommunications. Consumers would have the right to claim back their electronic money at any moment, under conditions laid down by the new rules.

Background

The E-Money Directive (2000/46/EC) sought to facilitate access by non-credit institutions to the business of e-money issuance. However, electronic money is still far from delivering the full potential benefits that were expected at the time of its adoption and is not yet considered a credible alternative to cash. Figures on the limited number of fully licensed electronic money institutions or on the low volume of electronic money issued demonstrate that electronic money has not yet really taken off in most of the Member States. The evaluation of the application of this Directive has shown that some of its provisions seem to have hindered the take-up of the electronic money market, hampering technological innovation.
The proposal aims at enabling new, innovative and secure electronic money services to be designed, providing market access to new players and fostering real and effective competition between all market participants. As all provisions have been amended and the structure was revised, it is proposed to repeal the existing E-Money Directive and replace it by a new directive. The proposal now passes to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers for consideration.

The proposal is available here

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Commission proposes clear legal framework for innovative payment solutions.

Increasing confidence in eInvoicing

Editor — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:08:03 +0000

The popularity of online payments for utility bills (electricity, gas, water) is increasing in Hungary since the launch of a new eInvoicing service last year by the Díjbeszed? Holding (Utility Fee Collection Holding), despite a persisting reticence to change.

There are now over 50 000 residents in Budapest who choose to pay their utility bills over the Internet. In the summer of 2008, the Dijbeszedõ Holding carried out a survey on attitudes to eInvoicing in 1 000 Budapest households. According to the survey, confidence in electronic payment methods has increased. Some 75 % of the population regard purchasing over the internet as secure; 50 % of the respondents use the internet regularly and one-third even use eBanking services.

On the negative side, 20 % reject eInvoicing for security reasons, and 14 % claim to have a strong aversion to eInvoicing. The survey also revealed that 84 % of the population still use the so-called yellow (post office) cheques to pay their monthly bills; 20 % occasionally use bank transfer services to pay their bills; and only 16 % of Budapest’s population relies on standing orders.

Although eInvoicing is gaining in popularity, Hungarian citizens still use some 280 million ‘yellow cheques’ a year to pay their bills at post offices, highlighting a reluctance to change on the part of the population. According to the survey, it is very important to customers (70 on a scale of 1 to 100) to avoid having to change their usual payment methods.

Source: ePractice.eu

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Increasing confidence in eInvoicing.

e-Invoicing: Now’s the time to jump in

Editor — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:56:08 +0000

Finally, the promise of paper-free purchasing and processing is nearing reality. You’ve heard the rumblings since the 1970s, that all procurement transactions were going “electronic” — and watched as the efforts have stumbled and stalled.

But there are two factors at work today that are making paper-free operations (e-invoicing) much more feasible:

The cost of the necessary technology is decreasing
Companies’ interests in cutting costs, with suitable ROI, is increasing

The payoff is handsome, according to a recent Aberdeen study.

Best-in-class purchasing operations realized these benefits:

91% savings in processing invoices
46% trimmed from process cycle time
12% drop in late payments, and
30% decrease in time responding to inquiries

Need some ammo to make your case with the execs?

There’s a combination of “out with the bad, in with the good” examples that’ll help draw a clear picture of the ROI that can be gained from making steps further into electronic payment processing.

Companies that putting electronic payment systems into practice are reporting great improvements in these common problems:

Long billing cycles. Paper creeps through the mail and through A/P and A/R, often adding up to days or even weeks. That’s without even factoring in lost documents, filing errors, etc.
Fraud. Paper documents are much easier to alter or substitute. Changes in electronic billing documents leave a trail.
Visibility. Need to know the status of a transaction? Good luck if it’s on paper. Electronically, it’s just a couple of button punches away.
Accessibility. One copy of paperwork, one person can use it. What if someone else needs to see it? If it’s paper, it means making copies — which opens the door to problems. If it’s available electronically, everyone can see it at once.
Storage. Look at the pile of paper you generate every week, and where you have to store it. Ouch. Electronic documents are stored on top of your desk, without the mess.
Going green. You’ll also do the world a favor by reducing the amount of paper your company consumes.

Source: Procurement Alert

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: e-Invoicing: Now’s the time to jump in.

Strong increase of Infor Baan users within e-invoice processing

ISProjects — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:01:28 +0000

These Infor customers have already chosen for ISP-Invoice: Aimtec GmbH, Bouwbedrijf van de Kolk, Brush HMA, Fennel Technologies AG, Ikazia Ziekenhuis, Komatsu, Leolux Meubelfabriek en Thunnissen Groep.

Aimtec GmbH
Aimtec is a German implementation partner of Infor. In addition to the implementation of ISP-Invoice in German Infor Baan customers, they also use ISP-Invoice themselves.
Click here for more information

Bouwbedrijf van de Kolk
Bouwbedrijf van de Kolk is a Dutch construction company.

Brush HMA
BRUSH Turbogenerator Division is part of FKI Energy Technology, with manufacturing facilities in the UK, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. Each factory has been designated as an FKI Centre of Excellence for the design and manufacture of 2 and 4 pole high voltage generators, synchronous motors and power management systems. BRUSH Turbogenerators supplies power world-wide.

Fennel Technologies AG
One year after the start of the project “digital invoice scanning and processing” by one of the Fennel Technologies offices in Germany, now another location is also using ISP-Invoice.

Ikazia Ziekenhuis
Ikazia ziekenhuis is a Dutch hospital. It is situated in Rotterdam and employs about 1300 people.

Komatsu
The German production facility of the Japanese company Komatsu, manufactures giant digging and mining machines. They are the largest producer of construction machines in Germany.

Leolux Meubelfabriek
During 7 decades Leolux has become a European manufacturer of modern furniture with roots deep in the last century, and visions of a challenging future.

Thunnissen Groep
Thunnissen Groep is active in development, construction and maintenace in the Netherlands.

More information about ISP-Invoice?

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Strong increase of Infor Baan users within e-invoice processing.

ETSI: 4th Security Workshop in Sophia Antilopis (F)

Editor — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:15:08 +0000

ETSI will organise its 4th Security Workshop to be held at ETSI Headquarters, in Sophia Antipolis, France, on the 13th and 14th of January 2009. The increasing complexity and rapid development of new systems and networks, the sophistication of changing threats, and the presence of intrinsic vulnerabilities present demanding challenges for the Information society in its efforts to secure Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems and networks against the threats and related risks to which they are subject. To minimise exposure to risks, Security must be built in from the beginning when designing new architectures, and not added on at a later stage as an optional feature.

Security standards, sometimes in support of legislative actions, are essential to ensure interoperability between products using the same security mechanisms, to provide globally acceptable security metrics, as well as to ensure an adequate level of security for these products. This leads to a more secure and profitable environment for the industrial sector from SME to large global companies, as well as benefits for governmental organisations, research bodies and universities.

The annual ETSI Security Workshop has evolved into a world reference and is acknowledged by many to the annual international security standardisation workshop to attend, bringing together international Standards Developing Organisations (SDOs) and security experts to discuss recent developments, share knowledge, identify gaps and co-ordinate on future actions and work areas and to maintain our reputation and commitment in this area.The workshop will include overviews of the work being done in the area of security across standards and technical bodies, along with presentations from major organisations involved in security initiatives.

Registration
Online registration for this workshop is now open. Attendance at the workshop is free of charge and open to everyone.

This event is in the past

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: ETSI: 4th Security Workshop in Sophia Antilopis (F).

CEN eInvoice Gateway and the Country Information Managers

Editor — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:02:36 +0000

After the completion of the first CEN/ISSS eInvoicing Workshop in 2006, a second phase of activities was launched at the kick-off meeting on 7 May 2007.

CEN/ISSS
CEN/ISSS published in 2003 – upon request of the European Commission – a report on the standardization aspects of the VAT Directive (“the eInvoicing Focus Group”), and, the Commission subsequently issued standardization mandate M/339 “in support of interoperability of electronic invoicing in the Community”. In support of the recommendations of the Focus Group, a CEN/ISSS Workshop was created.

CEN Workshop Agreements
This first established a work programme in response to the first phase of the mandate, then in a second phase developed consensus documents for publication as CEN Workshop Agreements. The published CWAs are available at: www.cenorm.be/isss and at: http://www.e-invoice-gateway.net/knowledgebase/

CEN/ISSS eInvoice Phase II
The general objective of Phase II is to stimulate further standardisation in the domain of electronic invoicing accross Europe. The aim is to support the following processes:

- the compliance of electronic invoice implementations to Council Directive 2001/115/EC and the national
legislation with regard to e-invoicing;

- the effective implementation of compliant electronic invoice systems in using emerging technologies
and business processes, in business-to-business as well as in business-to-government scenarios and;

- the emerging network infrastructure of invoice operators throughout Europe.

You will find more information about the CEN ws on e-invoicing here:
http://www.cen.eu/CENORM/BusinessDomains/BusinessDomains/isss/activity/einvoicing_2.asp

CEN ISSS eInvoice Gateway
Phase II of the eInvoice workshop has been broken down into five seperate projects. One of these projects, called ‘enhanced adoption of electronic invoicing in business processes in Europe’ has led to the CEN/ISSS eInvoice Gateway.

The aim of the eInvoice Gateway is to identify the most appropriate national legal practices in the relevant fields of e-business, in order to contribute to the simplification and improvement of the administrative and regulatory framework for enterprises in e-business in the field of accounting.

eInvoice Gateway and the Country Information Managers (CIM’s)
Apart from standard functions on the eInvoice Gateway, such as calendar and documents related to the CEN/ISSS eInvoice Phase II Workshop (CWA’s), the focal lies at the Country Information Managers.

Country Information Managers, in short: CIM’s, are persons with a leading position in the area of e-invoicing in a specific country in Europe. The CIM’s should ensure that it is possible for native speakers of a country to transfer knowledge and share information for that specific country. Therefore promoting the participation of country representatives to the objective of the eInvoice Gateway, the CEN eInvoice Workshop and off course e-invoicing in general.

Each Member State of the European Union has the opportunity to deliver a CIM. The tasks of the CIM are:

- identifying activities/companies/organizations in the field of e-invoicing in the own country and
informing these parties about this European-wide non-commercial activity;

- informing about the platform’s mission (native speakers for requests of the respective country) in case
someone wants more information about this CEN activity

- mentorship (in terms of usability engineering aspects and continuous improvement process aspects).

The number of working days per year needed to carry out a CIM’s tasks is very limited due to the fact that the platform offers easy-to-handle self-enlisting functionalities and easy-to-use search options. The CIM’s role therefore is only to act as a mentor for their own country.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: CEN eInvoice Gateway and the Country Information Managers.

Funds industry standards could be years away, says Clearstream

Editor — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:41:41 +0000

Interoperable standards between banks, fund managers and their intermediaries could take decades to emerge, according to European clearing and settlement body Clearstream.

The funds distribution process is typically viewed as being one of the least automated in the financial industry with faxes still widely used in the transaction process.

According to Tilman Fechter, executive director, Investment Fund Services, Clearstream, while the adoption of automation is increasing, the lack of a recognised and universal messaging standard for communication between banks and fund managers is hampering efforts.

“More and more senior people agree that fax is not the answer but the argument is what the standard will be – Swift? FIX? Proprietary protocols?”

Fechter says that, despite the efforts of Swift to promote its ISO-based standards, the fact that many banks and investment managers are on different versions creates an interoperability problem.

Many banks have only just migrated onto the ISO 15022 standard while fund managers connecting to Swift for the first time are going straight onto the newer 20022 version.

Swift will eventually become the dominant standard, says Fechter, and all counterparties may eventually be using the same version but it will be a long-term project that will take at least 20 years in all likelihood.

For its part, Clearstream, which is owned by Deutsche Börse, is offering investment management clients in Luxembourg, Ireland, Belgium and Switzerland the opportunity to communicate with its banking counterparts through its Central Facility for Funds product which will be extended to the UK market as of October this year.

“Swift strongly relies on people like us to support two counterparties using Swift but on different standards,” says Fechter who adds that the situation is not the fault of the messaging standards body but just a reflection of the way the market is structured.

“Swift is doing the right thing and there is nothing I can see that it could be doing better. It is just the state of the industry and you cannot force standards.”

Source: Sibos Online

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Funds industry standards could be years away, says Clearstream.

4th eBIF Conference ‘e-Business interoperability practice’ in Utrecht (NL)

Anachron — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:22:41 +0000

e-Business interoperability practice: examples, impacts and standardization challenges’

Day 1 – 8 December 2008
Programme starts 10.00

Opening by Peter Potgieser, ABN AMRO, Chairman CEN/ISSS e-Business Interoperability Forum and Equens speaker

Keynote: ICT standardization and eBusiness policy developments
Costas Andropoulos, Head of Unit, European Commission, Enterprise and Industry Directorate General

Practical examples papiNet implementation and deployment practice
Tom Meniga, Managing Director, Freecom

eBIZ-TIC project – eBusiness standards pilots in the textile and footwear industry
Piero De Sabbata or Milena Stefanova, ENEA eTrade UN/CEFACT speaker Interoperability between eInvoicing systems Anachron speaker Questions and answers

RFID and the Internet of things
Speaker from the European Commission, Information Society and Media Directorate General (tbc)

Beyond SOA: interoperability challenges in the Digital Ecosystem era
Pierfranco Ferronato, Chief Architect, Soluta.Net

ICT implications for energy consumption and growth
Reinhard Madlener, E.ON Energy Research Centre (tbc)

Day 2 – Tuesday 9 December 2008
Programme starts 09.30

Critical issues – Title to be confirmed
Paul van Exel, USPI (tbc)

Education in e-business standards and standardization policy
Speaker to be confirmed

Methodologies for Global eBusiness test beds
Speaker tbc

For more information, visit the website of CEN

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 4th eBIF Conference ‘e-Business interoperability practice’ in Utrecht (NL).

02-12-2008: CBI/ABI event – Forum on e-Invoicing in Rome

Editor — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:00:33 +0000

On December 2nd and 3rd 2008, a forum is dedicated to amongst others international developments on electronic invoices, the analysis of international scenarios and the in-depth examination of business and technical aspects of the new advanced services dedicated to banks and enterprises. The event will take place in Rome.

This is the agenda of the event.

If you are interested in visiting this event, you can view the registration form here.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 02-12-2008: CBI/ABI event – Forum on e-Invoicing in Rome.

PayPal and OB10 team on e-invoicing

OB10 — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 09:17:32 +0000

PayPal has teamed with electronic invoicing outfit OB10 to create an automated e-invoicing application for the UK business community.

Under the partnership, invoices sent by PDF will incorporate a PayPal button which the customer just clicks to arrange payment.

The payments can then be made by credit and debit cards, bank transfers or PayPal balance, meaning customers don’t have to wait for cheques to clear.

OB10 says the partnership – initially for the UK market only – will help businesses streamline invoicing and payment process, improving efficiency and transparency within the financial supply chain.

Cameron McLean, general manager, merchant services, PayPal, says: “The PayPal and the OB10 eBilling product will provide businesses with the opportunity to optimise their working capital cycle – an incredibly powerful proposition in today’s economic climate.”

Last year the European Commission (EC) set up a steering committee to oversee the establishment of a common invoicing framework that would allow businesses across the region to send invoices and receive corresponding payments electronically.

According to a report produced by an “informal task force” on e-invoicing, the introduction of the European electronic invoicing (EII) network could reduce supply chain costs by EUR243 billion across Europe and help to streamline business processes and drive innovation.

Attention has also turned to the environmental costs of paper-based invoicing. According to stats produced by the Euro Banking Association, a one per cent increase in the adoption of e-invoicing in Europe would save 800,000 trees annually.

Source: Finextra

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: PayPal and OB10 team on e-invoicing.

Finland still lagging behind in consumer e-invoicing

Editor — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:23:55 +0000

Denmark holds lead in consumer and business e-invoicing
Finland has yet to make any headway with regard to switching to the e-invoicing of consumers, even though we are already one of the international leaders in business-to-business e-invoicing. According to an extensive Itella Information survey, Denmark holds the lead in both consumer and business e-invoicing. The survey was conducted in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany during the spring of 2008. Consumer interviews were used to investigate over 3,300 people’s experiences of e-invoicing. More than 1,600 people were interviewed with regard to business-to-business invoicing.

The fact that Finland is still in last place in consumer e-invoicing can be considered a blemish on our society’s reputation. We compare favourably with regard to b-to-b e-invoicing, meaning that we have all the technological tools to replicate that success in the consumer sector. Finnish people seem to think that being able to pay their bills through their online bank is quite enough. The majority of consumers still receive hard copies of their invoices, while too few people even contemplate receiving e-invoicing. But does the underlying reason lie in our not having been sufficiently proactive in motivating consumers to switch to e-invoicing? asks Director Miikka Savolainen of Itella Information Oy.

According to the survey, consumers in the Nordic countries and Germany receive roughly the same number of invoices ? around 7 to 8 per person monthly. Hard copy is still the most common invoice format, with the exception of Denmark. In all of the countries, however, hard copies’ share of all invoices has decreased since 2006.

Denmark is in a class of its own with regard to e-invoicing. Only 32 per cent of Danish people nowadays report that they receive their invoices primarily in hard copy format. In the other countries around 75 per cent of consumers receive their invoices primarily in hard copy format. The Danes receive their e-invoices through both the online bank and invoice issuers’ websites or invoice and e-commerce portals.

The Danes can be considered trailblazers in consumer e-invoicing, while Finland and Germany lag behind. In Finland, the number of consumers requesting a hard copy invoice has been decreasing since 2006. Presently, 86 per cent of Finns receive their invoices in hard copy format, but in the future, 50 per cent of Finns hope to receive hard copies of their invoices. In Sweden, the number of people preferring hard copies has remained constant. In Germany, as many as 65 per cent of consumers would like to receive their invoices as letters in the future as well, says Savolainen.

The Finns and Danes exhibit contrasting conduct with regard to payment, too. In Finland, online banking is commonly used for payments, while few invoices are received there. Danes commonly receive reminders of their due invoices through an online bank, but favour direct debiting.

The Danish infrastructure makes the switch-over to e-invoices easy for consumers. Direct debiting, common in Denmark, also supports a switch-over to e-invoicing. These factors at least partly explain why Denmark is ahead of us. We have similar experiences in Norway and Estonia, says Savolainen.

Businesses transition towards e-invoicing ? the large followed by the small
In Finland, almost 80 per cent of large companies plan on sending the majority of their invoices in electronic format within 2 to 3 years. Among SMEs, Finnish ones are the most eager to make the switch to e-invoicing. Some 78 per cent of Finnish SMEs believe that they will be solely or partially using e-invoicing within the following 2 to 3 years.

According to our survey, almost all businesses and organisations intend to make the switch to e-invoicing in the forthcoming years. The only exception is Germany, in which only 65 per cent are considering this. The underlying reason for Finnish businesses’ enthusiasm for e-invoicing is the desire to achieve time and cost savings through this invoicing method, Savolainen states.

Finnish businesses to refuse hard copy invoices in the future
Some 75 per cent of large Finnish companies are receiving e-invoices at the moment. Denmark can equal these numbers, while other countries have not advanced this far.

Finnish businesses will be adopting a zero tolerance policy in the near future. Not even one of the respondents believed they would be exclusively receiving hard copy invoices in a few years. In Germany, on the other hand, little progress is expected, since even 42 per cent of the major corporations believed they would be receiving all their invoices in hard copy format, states Savolainen.

According to the survey, Finnish SMEs will be switching to e-invoicing in a more pronounced fashion than elsewhere.

Enthusiasm for switching to e-invoicing in the coming years runs high among small businesses, too. In Finland, more than half of SMEs expected to receive their invoices exclusively or almost exclusively in the e-invoice format in a few years, Savolainen explains.

Source: Itella.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Finland still lagging behind in consumer e-invoicing.

eInvoicing initiatives in Finland and in the EU

Tieto — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:40:44 +0000

Electronic invoicing is currently being adopted in Finnish companies and in the public sector. This paper looks at electronic invoicing and reports the latest developments in the EUarena related to electronic invoicing. In addition, the study reports the findings from the case studies conducted during autumn 2007. These case studies focused on the implementation processes of electronic invoicing in Finnish companies and the public sector.

This white paper reports the results from the FullSEPA project which concentrates on promoting and researching electronic payments and electronic invoicing. FullSEPA is the first phase in the Real-Time Economy (RTE) program. The RTE program is a four-year program focusing on real-time technologies and business transactions. It is conducted in collaboration between the Helsinki School of Economics and TietoEnator, and it is funded by Tekes – Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation through Verso – Vertical Software Solutions programme.

Download the white paper (pdf)

Source: Tekes

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: eInvoicing initiatives in Finland and in the EU.

Infrastructures for electronic invoicing in B2G transactions

Editor — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:01:37 +0000

The government of the Netherlands is aiming to be able to process 10% of incoming invoices (i.e. around one million invoices) electronically within three years. The benefits will include corresponding improvements in efficiency, reductions in errors and cost savings. Yet e-invoicing does not seem to be taking off. That is why the Ministry of Economic Affairs has commissioned Telematica Instituut and Zenc, within the framework of its Electronic Invoicing Action Plan, to conduct a detailed study of a number of scenarios related to the government’s e-invoicing infrastructure.

The study will produce a selection tool to generate scenarios for the organisation of the e-invoicing infrastructure. The selection tool will take account of such considerations as organisational aspects (whether the work is done in-house or outsourced), security (the authenticity and integrity of the invoice) and invoice validation and transformation.

The project will run for ten weeks, with the final report being presented to the Ministry in mid-August.

For more information: Bob.Hulsebosch@telin.nl or Paul.OudeLuttighuis@telin.nl

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Infrastructures for electronic invoicing in B2G transactions.