What is Peppol? The e-invoicing network explained
As of:
Peppol is an international network and set of specifications for exchanging business documents such as e-invoices. Instead of emailing files, companies connect to the network through a service provider — an access point — and can then reach every other Peppol participant. The standard invoice format is Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, a UBL format based on EN 16931.
This article is general information, not legal or tax advice.
The four-corner model
| Corner | Role |
|---|---|
| 1 — Sender | The supplier creates the invoice in its software. |
| 2 — Sender’s access point | Looks up the recipient and transmits the document securely over the network. |
| 3 — Recipient’s access point | Receives the document and passes it on. |
| 4 — Recipient | The customer’s accounting software imports the invoice. |
Sender and recipient can use different providers — just like phone networks. Before sending, the sender’s access point checks in a directory (the SMP, Service Metadata Publisher, found via a central lookup) which document types the recipient can receive and where to deliver them.
Peppol IDs
Each participant is identified by a Peppol ID, consisting of a scheme code and an identifier. Examples:
- 0208 — Belgian enterprise number (e.g. 0208:0123456789).
- 0204 — German Leitweg-ID, used to address German public authorities.
- 9930 — German VAT identification number.
In the invoice, these IDs appear as the electronic address of seller and buyer.
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0
The invoice specification of the network. It implements the European standard EN 16931 in UBL syntax and adds a few Peppol rules, for example that seller and buyer must have an electronic address. You can create such a file with the Peppol invoice generator or convert an existing XRechnung with the e-invoice converter.
Where Peppol is used
- Belgium: Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is the default standard for mandatory B2B e-invoicing since 1 January 2026 (source: FPS Finance).
- Germany: the federal invoice portals can be reached via Peppol; for B2B, Peppol is one of several possible channels besides email.
- Many other countries use Peppol for invoices to public buyers and increasingly for B2B.