On 19 August 2011, the Council of Ministers approved an agreement to promote the establishment and use of electronic invoices (eInvoices) by supporting their deployment in the public and private sectors, as well as to establish a national multilateral forum for electronic invoicing.

The agreement provides for the adoption of the following measures:

• The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism will be competent for the promotion of the widespread use of eInvoicing in Spain’s private sector, with particular emphasis on SMEs.

• The Ministry of Territorial Policy and Public Administration will be responsible for encouraging the widespread use of eInvoicing in Central Government.

• Creation, within the framework of the Law of 14 April 1997 on the Organisation and Operation of the General State Administration (no.6/1997), of a technical committee for the widespread use of eInvoicing. It will assist the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism and the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Public Administration by advising them on developing the above-mentioned missions.

• The Ministry of Territorial Policy and Public Administration, through the Secretary of State for the Civil Service, is to lead the concept and development of a central management service (CMS) for eInvoicing in 2011, which will comprise a single entry point for eInvoices intended for Central Government bodies and their respective autonomous entities and government agencies as defined by Law 28/2006 of 18 July 2006. This CMS will constitute the sole method for the receipt and issuance of eInvoices; furthermore, it will provide storage and safekeeping functions for eInvoices.

• Creation of a national multilateral forum on eInvoicing.

Under this agreement, the national multilateral forum will be composed of members of the technical committee and industry representatives. In addition, representatives of the Standing Committee of the Advisory Board for Telecommunications and Information Society of the Autonomous Communities and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces will also take part in the forum.

Some of the forum’s functions are to:

• propose initiatives to promote the adoption of eInvoicing in Spain, in areas such as policy or standardisation and interoperability;
• advise on the development and implementation of actions for the widespread use of eInvoicing in Spain;
• collaborate in efforts to expand the use of eInvoicing in Spain, particularly among SMEs;
• facilitate the exchange of experiences and best practices in the development process and implementation of eInvoicing in Spain;
• carry out, where appropriate, reviews and studies on the adoption of eInvoicing in different economic sectors.
• Representatives of the forum will participate in the EC-backed European eInvoicing Forum. The European Forum is to be composed of representatives of national fora and European associations linked to the development and implementation of eInvoicing. It will also be comprised of other organisations and working groups tasked with facilitating the exchange of experiences and best practices to assist the EC in identifying measures in the adoption and widespread use of eInvoicing in all member states.Source: www.epractice.eu

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Spanish single entry point for eInvoices in Central Government.

A few weeks ago Europol, EU’s defence against the dark arts, released their rapport (or iOCTA as they call it) on cybercrime. Underneath or some highlights from this illusive rapport:

• Global corporate losses because of cybercrime stands at around €750 billion per year (source: McAfee). That is per year almost 19 times more than the maximum amount that can be saved with e-invoicing and e-billing. And new illegal activities, including crime-ware distribution and the hacking of corporate databases are increasing that number. That gets one thinking.
• Criminals are trading credit card data for up to $30 per card, bank account information for between $10 – $125 and even your email account data is worth up to $12 in this sophisticated and self–sufficient economy.
• Here comes the scary part for online e-invoicing and e-billing: ‘Criminals are not only interested in details of credit cards and compromised bank accounts, but also our addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, full names and dates of birth’. So, the more widespread e-invoicing is becoming, the likelier the rest will become that cybercriminals are going to focus on (online) billing service providers). So another key action towards 2020 massive e-invoicing adoption: be sure to have made security a non-issue.
• EU Member States already rank amongst the most highly infected countries in the world when it comes to computer viruses and malware. The EU is a key target for cybercrime because of its advanced Internet infrastructure, rates of adoption and increasingly Internet-mediated economies and payment systems.
• Emerging trends like cloud computing and corporate social networks (like Yammer) pose problems when it comes to cybercrime: a threat to users and a challenge to law enforcement. Or the other way around.

More information:
Press release: http://www.europol.europa.eu/index.asp?page=news&news=pr110106.htm

Rapport: http://www.europol.europa.eu/publications/Serious_Crime_Overviews/Internet_Facilitated_Organised_Crime_iOCTA.pdf

Go to our Open LinkedIN Discussion and leave your comment

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: The impact of cybercrime on e-invoicing: five highlights.

Release 1.1 provides several new features, one of which is the possibility to force suppliers to send e-invoices (Thanks to Pieter Breyne). Other features are:

• a new ‘Retrieve request’ web service allowing users to retrieve an XML version of any document stored in the system, as well as a full implementation of the submit and validate catalogue features (with email notification support to users)
• partial support of the LIME profile (Send documents only) between lightweight clients and PEPPOL Access Points. More details on LIME profiles are available on the PEPPOL website.
• updated test suite that integrates the new features mentioned above.

The full list of web services provided by Open e-PRIOR v1.1 is the following:

• Submit Invoice *
• Submit Credit Note *
• Submit Attached Document *
• View document
• Query Request
• Status Request
• Retrieve Request
• Submit Order *
• Submit Catalogue

* Service is also available through the use of the PEPPOL Access Points.
Further Information:

• Registering at the OSOR website and participating in the OSOR community;
• Downloading the latest version of Open e-PRIOR from OSOR.eu;
• Reading the documentation about Open e-PRIOR, including a guide on how to get Open e-PRIOR running and the Software Architecture document;
• Contacting the dedicated e-PRIOR team either via e-mail: DIGIT-EPRIOR-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu or in the forum at OSOR: http://forge.osor.eu/forum/?group_id=188.
• e-PRIOR LinkedIn Group – http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3686902)

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: New version of the e-procurement service Open e-Prior.

The Electronic Invoicing Application service in Turkey has started by the publication of Tax Procedural Law (Order No. 397) in March 5, 2010. The Presidency of Revenue Administration Office of Tax Authority regulates the e-invoicing system.

Users benefit from e-billing application by:
- sending e-invoices,
- receiving e-invoices,
- downloading the e-invoices into their computer,
- presenting electronic media stored in their computer when requested.
The E-State e-invoicing application has a B2B scope. Users can access the system by integration their accounting system or via an Internet Portal  Those users with sufficient computing capacity can connect their own data processing (CRM, billing accounting) directly (server to server) to the central system and must use the determined standards of e-billing application. Those companies which do not have adequate infrastructure can access the system through a portal. That prtal is web application which hosts and serves basic functions.
Once the accounts are activated the users will be able to log-on to the e-billing Portal and be able to send and receive e-invoices.

Links related to e-invoicing in Turkey:
http://www.efatura.gov.tr/
http://mm.kamusm.gov.tr/

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing begins to show benefits in Turkey.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: UK E-Invoicing Advocacy Group Update.

Upside down
The proposal has been subject to continuous discussion last year by the Tax Departments of the 27 EU Member States. On March 16, 2010 they reached an agreement. In the current proposed article 233 the authenticity of the origin, the integrity of the content gets company with yet another requirement: the legibility of an invoice. These three main requirements are even extended to paper invoices. This is the world upside down compared to what the Commission originally proposed. The new rules also don’t prevent Member States not to impose additional conditions to paper invoices.

Harmonisation
The draft directive sets out to ensure the acceptance by tax authorities of e-invoices under the same conditions as for paper invoices, and to remove legal obstacles to the transmission and storage of e-invoices. It also allows e-invoicing to be implemented differently across member states. This could enhance differences between Member States and could cushion adoption of cross border e-invoicing unless service providers providers sufficient tools and service.

Current draft article 233

Article 233

1. The authenticity of the origin, the integrity of the content and the legibility of an invoice, whether in paper or in electronic form, shall be ensured from the point in time of issue until the end of the period for storage of the invoice.

Each taxable person shall determine the way to ensure the authenticity of the origin, the integrity of the content and the legibility of the invoice. This can be achieved by any business controls which create a reliable audit trail between an invoice and a supply.

“The authenticity of the origin” shall mean the assurance of the identity of the supplier or the issuer of the invoice.

“The integrity of the content” shall mean that the content required according to this Directive has not been altered.

2. Other than through the type of business controls described in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, the following are examples of technologies that ensure the authenticity of the origin and the integrity of the content of an electronic invoice:

-by means of an advanced electronic signature within the meaning of point (2) of Article 2 of Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 1999 on a Community framework for electronic signatures, based on a qualified certificate and created by a secure signature creation device, within the meaning of points (6) and (10) of Article 2 of Directive 1999/93/EC.

-by means of electronic data interchange (EDI), as defined in Article 2 of Commission Recommendation 1994/820/EC of 19 October 1994 relating to the legal aspects of electronic data interchange, if the agreement relating to the exchange provides for the use of procedures guaranteeing the authenticity of the origin and integrity of the data.”

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: New EU rules for invoicing proposed: the world upside down?.

It is mandatory by law for businesses to submit an electronic invoice when supplying goods or services to the Danish government. This regulation creates a barrier to the 300,000 small and medium size enterprises which are mostly relying on paper-based invoicing. “Most of the existing solutions for e-invoicing have been too complex and costly to be viable alternatives for smaller businesses,” explained Lippert.

As for the remaining 200,000 businesses which could afford digitising the invoicing process, there was still inefficiency. Most corporations use stand-alone invoicing applications or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems which could not interact directly with the systems of other companies.

In order to facilitate business with the government and among the industry, the NITA deployed a national e-invoicing service, called ‘NemHandel’. It allows businesses to send standardised e-invoices through the internet. Based on open and common standards, NemHandel also allows businesses to send e-invoices which were generated in their internal ERP or invoicing systems.

By December last year (2009), approximately 66,000 Danish companies had used NemHandel, which accounts for more than 20 per cent of all companies. On average, the system registers 4000 new users per month.

According to Lippert, NITA has seen growth in the number of users integrating NemHandel into their internal systems, using it for business-to-business transactions as well. “We are very pleased to see this trend. NemHandel is allowing true interoperability among businesses in the country,” she added.

NITA estimates that the project will save businesses about EUR 591 million (US$849 million) per year from reduced invoicing costs. The public sector expects to save EUR 10 million (US$15 million) annually. Savings come from ceasing payment for the use of proprietary networks and subsidies which government uses to give to smaller businesses to scan paper invoices.

For the next step, NITA is working to migrate all NemHandel infrastructure components to the cloud. The migration progress is expected to be completed in the beginning of March this year.

www.futuregov.net

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Denmark helps businesses with national e-invoicing system.

The technology now exists to enable governments across Europe to seize on the potential of cloud computing and develop online public services that better meet the needs of their populations, but not enough countries are taking decisive action on the issue, according to the European Commission.

In a speech this week, at the ‘Visby Agenda: Creating impact for an eUnion 2015′ conference in Sweden, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding outlined the importance of cloud computing in tackling issues such as social engagement and improving the sustainability of government IT.

Reding said that Europe’s 23 million SMEs had been slow to “jump on the ICT train” and only 9 percent of small companies use electronic invoices. She also highlighted that only 11 percent have technology-based Human Resources management systems.

“I see, therefore, great potential for cloud computing applications to help Europe’s businesses into the true ICT age, at lower costs compared to traditional IT company solutions,” said Reding. “Accessing computing power over the web instead of investing in technologies and applications would not only be cheaper, but also easier for businesses that then don’t have to buy and maintain technologies and IT applications and services.”

But according to Reding, it is not only up to business to grasp the potential of cloud computing. “This is not only an area where businesses should act, this is in particular an area where I call upon Europe’s public administrations to take the lead to deliver what citizens need today – the ‘Gov 2.0′ experience. Europe’s public services cannot escape any longer collaboration with their users! In the future, eGovernment will have to move from a ‘one size fits all’ to ‘tailor-made customised services’.”

Reding added that cloud computing would allow public services to be more inclusive and personalised. “Thanks to cloud computing, public services will have the chance to be provided anywhere, anytime and anyhow and to anybody. This means that public services will become inclusive, personalised and more user-driven than ever,” she said.

In a wide ranging speech that also touched on the importance of creating a single digital market in Europe to ease issues such as buying items online across European borders, Reding also focused on the importance of IT in meeting environmental goals laid down in the upcoming Copenhagen talks.

“Just consider the following: If businesses in Europe were to replace only 20 percent of all business trips by video conferencing, we could save more than 22 million tons of CO2 per year. And cloud computing could lead to electricity savings in computing activity of up to 80 percent,” she said.

As well as discussing the potential of IT to help Europe meet its energy efficiency targets, Reding also called on the IT industry to improve its own energy efficiency amid rising demand for ever more sophisticated technology.

“First and foremost, the ICT sector should make a collective effort to reduce its own footprint which is currently set to double by 2020 due to the increasing use of ICT,” she said. “The Recommendation therefore invites the sector to adopt, for the first time by 2010, a common measurement framework to quantify its own energy and carbon footprint, leading to energy efficiency targets that should exceed the EU 2020 targets already in 2015.”

But despite the importance of IT to meet tighter carbon targets, experts this week criticised the lack of focus on IT at the UN Copenhagen talks in December.

Source: www.eweekeurope.co.uk

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: EC calls on Europe to board cloud computing train.

The invoice is an important document exchanged in e-business transactions between trading partners. Its primary function is a request for payment from the customer to the supplier. The invoice is also an important accounting document and also has potential trade law implications for both trading partners.
Additionally, in the member states of the European Union, the invoice is the key document for VAT declaration and reclamation, for statistics declaration, and to support export and import declaration in respect of trade with other countries.

Started as an initiative by CEN/ISSS Work shop eBES, the European Expert Group 1 (EEG1) – Supply Chain & e-Procurement developed the Cross Industry Invoice in 2004. The first version of the Cross Industry Invoice has been compiled with contributions and submissions from: EUROFER, GS1, CIDX, EDIFICE, AIAG/ODETTE/JAMA, GHX, UK e-Government, UK HM Customs & Excise, and EDS.

In the end of the year 2008 version 2.0 of this document was published. Compared to version 1.0 a series of changes regarding the requirements and the structure were introduced. Basis for the enhancement of requirements were contributions from TBG1 members such as GS1, UBL, EDIFrance, US Department of Defense, and others.

The objective of this document is to standardize the business processes regarding (e-) in the supply chain.

Read the entire document:

Source: www.uncefactforum.org

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: New version of Cross Industry Invoice (CII).

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.

Here you are able to view the entire data overview per country:
Source: Eurostat

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Growing internet access and use in the EU27 in 2008.

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.

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.

OBJECTIVES of the workshop

- Discuss and look at how eGovernment can be an effective tool in the reduction of administrative burden for public administration, business and citizens.
- Inform about the present activities of the European Commission by speakers from DG Enterprise and DG Infosoc including the latest call within the ICT PSP Work Programme 2008;
- Provide an up to date overview of the latest activities of the SCM Network;
- Present good practice cases from Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany, among others, showing how administrative burden is being reduced for business, citizens and government;
- Provide participants an opportunity to raise questions and discuss these good practice examples with the case presenters in three parallel working groups.

More information to be found on the website of ePractice.eu.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 25-11-2008: ePractice.eu – Administrative burden.