1. How will the future European standard (EN) on Electronic Invoicing benefit public entities and service & solution providers?
December 1, 2016
Andrea Caccia, CEN/TC 434 chair
This presentation expresses the position of the above mentioned presenter. Not of CEN nor NEN.

2. Present scenario
Multiplicity of non-interoperable standards: international, regional, national, sectorial
Complexity, legal uncertainty and additional operating costs for economic operators in cross-border and cross-sector context
-> Remove or reduce obstacles deriving from the co-existence of several legal requirements and lack of interoperability

3. The identified solution
The European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on electronic Invoicing (EMSFEI) unanimously adopted on Oct 2013:
"Recommendation on the use of a Semantic Data Model to support Interoperability for Electronic Invoicing"
From the EMSFEI Recommendation to Directive 2014/55/UE:
-> development of a common European standard for the semantic data model of the core elements of an electronic invoice

4. Why semantic data model
Existing standards rely on specific syntaxes/formats
Aim to support existing standards, not to create a new syntax/format
Focus on the invoice content
Focus on cross border legal compliance
Enable seamless translations of compliant invoices between different formats
Sector Section
Common Section
Legal Section
Country specific

5. Why core elements
Focus on widest possible use (cross border, cross sector)
Keep the common elements required for (basic) automatic processing
Extension methodology to support additional features and specific business sectors
KISS (Keep it Simple and Stupid) principle
-> development of an European Standard
Sector Section
Common Section
Legal Section
Core elements

6. Goals of the European Standard
Reduce complexity and legal uncertainty enabling cross border and cross sector interoperability for service & solution providers
Promoting the uptake of e-invoicing in public procurement and in the private sector in order to generate significant benefits for Member States and economic operators
Complementing the efforts for the uptake of e-procurement as reflected in Directives 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU

7. Standard development in CEN
Initiative for CEN Committee ‘e-Invoice’ taken by NL (NEN) and IT (UNI), anticipating Directive requirement for the European Standard -> Committee established in September 2014
10/12/2014 – The Commission issued a standardisation request to the European Standardization Bodies as regards a European standard on e-invoicing and a set of ancillary standardisation deliverables
CEN accepted the SR and assigned it to Project Committee 434, that now is a Technical Committee
(TC 434)

8. Challenges for CEN/TC 434
Timeframe imposed by Directive - shorter than ‘normal’
Specifications of syntax list requirements: use political language rather than technical language
Allocation of remit (e.g. ‘in core’ vs. ‘change legislation’)
Unbalanced participation in the work, e.g. public vs private sector, different distribution among different countries
Subject to multiple forces: (national) legislation, implementation consequences, vested interests, Member State initiatives

9. Deliverables from CEN/TC 434
The Standardization request asks CEN to publish a number of deliverables
Reference
WG and Convenor
Topic (not official title) EN
WG1 - Karina Duvinger, Sven Rasmussen
European Standard for the semantic data model of the core elements of an electronic invoice TS
WG2 - Andrea Caccia
List of limited number of invoice syntaxes (formats) which fully comply with the EN TS
WG3 - Fred van Blommestein, Edmund Gray
Syntax binding (targeting for 4 syntaxes: UBL 2.1, UN/CEFACT Cross Industry Invoice XML, UN/EDIFACT) TR
WG4 - Sven Rasmussen
Transmission guideline TR
WG5 - Jostein Frømyr
Extension methodology TR
WG6 - Edmund Gray
Test results

10. Approach for the semantic data model European Standard
1. Process models (sample)

11. Approach for the semantic data model European Standard
2. Invoice functions (sample of requirements)

12. Approach for the semantic data model European Standard
3. Semantic model

13. List of syntaxes & Sintax bindings
After a thorough discussion the following syntaxes will be listed in TS :
ISO/IEC 19845:2015 / OASIS Universal business language (UBL v2.1)
UN/CEFACT Cross Industry Invoice XML
TS will provide syntax bindings also for UN/EDIFACT
Contracting authorities and contracting entities are required to support the syntaxes listed in TS
Standardized support for UN/EDIFACT was considered also essential for its wide use in the private sector

14. Future activities
Address extension governance issues, especially for sector specific extension
Definition of common extensions (e.g. extend the limit: 1 order ref. for each invoice/delivery, B2C invoices, etc)
Specification of code lists (e.g. VAT exemptions)
Standardize use of PDF/A3 to carry processable invoices
Standardized usage specifications (address for instance national requirements)

15. Thank you for your kind attention!