Peppol
Peppol is an international network with uniform standards that lets companies and public authorities exchange e-invoices and other procurement documents securely and automatically, without having to build a separate interface for every partner.
Peppol is an international, standardised network through which companies and public-sector buyers exchange electronic documents such as invoices, orders and dispatch advices securely, in a structured form and automatically. Instead of building a separate bilateral interface for each business partner, a company connects to Peppol just once via a certified access point and thereby reaches every other participant worldwide. The name is an acronym for "Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine"; the network has been maintained and developed since 2012 by the non-profit organisation OpenPeppol, based in Brussels.
At its core, Peppol combines a uniform data format, a secured transport protocol and a central participant directory. Because everyone involved uses the same rules, a document can move from the sender's system into the recipient's system without a media break and be processed further there directly. Peppol therefore primarily describes the transport route and the framework rules for the exchange – not the document itself. Originally developed for public procurement in Europe, the network is today used worldwide and increasingly in B2B business as well.
At a glance
- International network for the standardised exchange of e-invoices and procurement documents
- Acronym for "Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine"; operated by OpenPeppol (Brussels)
- Four-corner model: sender → access point → access point → recipient
- A single connection via a certified access point reaches all participants worldwide
- A transport route, not a document format – uses Peppol BIS based on EN 16931
How does Peppol work?
Peppol is based on what is known as the four-corner model. The sender (first corner) hands their document to their access point (second corner). This access point transmits it across the network to the recipient's access point (third corner), which finally delivers it to the recipient's system (fourth corner). For the user, this means: they only talk to their own access point, and it takes care of delivery to any partner in the network. You therefore do not need to know which software or which service provider the recipient uses – interoperability is guaranteed by the shared standards.
So that a document reaches the right recipient, every participant has a unique Peppol participant identifier (Peppol ID) based on internationally common identification schemes such as the VAT identification number, GLN or Leitweg-ID. A central directory (SML/SMP) stores the address at which a participant can be reached and which document types they can receive. The sender's access point queries this directory and delivers the document securely.
Access point and the AS4 protocol
An access point is a certified service provider or piece of software that serves as the entry and exit gateway to the network. Transmission between two access points takes place via the standardised, encrypted AS4 protocol. This ensures secure, verifiable transport including a delivery receipt. Companies generally do not operate their own access point but use an existing provider or an ERP function that takes on this role.
Peppol BIS as the document specification
What travels across the network is defined in the Peppol Business Interoperability Specifications (BIS). For e-invoicing, Peppol BIS builds on the European standard EN 16931 and prescribes additional validation rules. This ensures that an invoice document sent via Peppol is uniformly structured in terms of content and can be unambiguously processed by the recipient's system.
Why Peppol matters
The central benefit of Peppol lies in eliminating bilateral interfaces. In classic electronic data interchange, an individual connection had to be set up and maintained between each pair of partners – laborious, expensive and poorly scalable. Peppol replaces this web of individual connections with a single link: once you are connected, you reach every other participant under the same rules. This lowers integration costs and makes invoice exchange particularly efficient for companies with many changing business partners.
On top of this comes reliability: thanks to encrypted transport, unambiguous addressing and delivery receipts, a document's path is traceable and tamper-proof. Because documents arrive structured and standard-compliant, they can be checked and posted without manual entry. In several countries Peppol is also the officially designated or recommended channel for public procurement, so that public-sector suppliers effectively have to take part in it.
Peppol in the ERP system
For an ERP system, Peppol is a transport channel that plugs into the existing document processing. On the outbound side, the system generates a standard-compliant e-invoice in the Peppol BIS format from the sales document and hands it – directly or via a connected access-point service – to the network. Because the relevant data such as the customer account, line items and tax codes are maintained in the ERP anyway, the Peppol document arises without extra effort, provided master data and format are entered correctly.
On the inbound side, the access point receives the documents and provides them to the ERP as a structured data record. There they are automatically matched to open purchase orders, checked in the invoice workflow and handed over to financial accounting. Audit-proof, GoBD-compliant archiving in the original format is essential. Many ERP solutions map the Peppol connection either natively or via certified partners; posting then runs through the usual routes such as a DATEV interface.
Distinctions: Peppol, e-invoice, EDI and formats
Peppol is often equated with the e-invoice, but it describes something different: it is the network and the transport route, whereas e-invoice, XRechnung or ZUGFeRD denote the format of the document. An e-invoice can be transmitted via Peppol, but equally by email or portal upload. Conversely, Peppol transports not only invoices but also orders, order confirmations and dispatch advices.
Peppol differs from classic EDI data interchange (such as EDIFACT) through its open, standardised character: instead of individually negotiated connections between large partners, Peppol uses a uniform, publicly accessible set of rules that is also reachable for smaller companies. Building the document in the Peppol format so that it is XRechnung-compatible is assured by the Peppol BIS, because these are founded on EN 16931 – the common semantic model behind the prevailing European e-invoicing formats.
DACH specifics: Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Across the DACH region, Peppol is embedded to differing degrees. In Germany it is used above all in invoicing with public administration: via the Peppol connection of the administrative portals, suppliers can deliver XRechnungen; addressing here often uses the recipient's Leitweg-ID. With the B2B e-invoicing obligation in force since 2025, Peppol is also gaining importance in private-sector exchange, though it is not the only permitted transport route there.
Austria operates the Business Service Portal (Unternehmensserviceportal) for the federal administration and accepts invoices as a Peppol document, among other options. Switzerland, as a non-EU country, is not bound by the European requirements, but has joined Peppol and increasingly uses the network in exchanges with authorities and internationally operating companies. Anyone invoicing across borders benefits from the fact that a single Peppol connection works across countries. This article provides a general overview and does not replace tax advice in an individual case.
Example
Example: A furniture manufacturer supplies the public sector
A mid-sized furniture manufacturer wins a tender to equip several public authorities. The buyers require invoicing as an XRechnung via the Peppol network. Instead of setting up a separate transport route for each authority, the manufacturer connects its ERP system to Peppol just once via a certified access point and stores the respective Leitweg-ID of the recipients.
On invoicing, the ERP automatically generates a standard-compliant XRechnung in the Peppol BIS format and hands it to the access point, which delivers it securely and confirms receipt. For new public customers no further technical effort is needed – the existing connection suffices. Incoming supplier invoices in the same network are likewise read in, checked and archived audit-proof automatically.
Frequently asked questions
Matching ERP systems
Related services
Questions about Peppol in your ERP project?
We advise vendor-neutrally – and implement it ourselves on request.