Peppol stands for Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line and is a closed network for securely sending digital business documents such as invoices. Peppol was co-financed by the European Commission and 18 government agencies to simplify the purchase-to-pay process between government agencies and suppliers. Although the Peppol network was co-developed by the European Commission, it is an international network that is also used outside Europe and is well on its way to becoming the new standard for sending invoices.

Peppol is a network made up of certified Access Points via which you can send digital files such as invoices. You can connect to an Access Point through a service provider, either using invoicing software from the service provider or by linking your own software package with the Access Point. You'll need to register with a unique identifier through a one-time registration process. Many countries use company or VAT numbers for identification. Internationally, you'll be able to use the GLN number.

The Peppol network only lets you send digital invoices, also called e-invoices. Unlike PDF invoices, these are fully digital XML files (i.e. digital plain text files) created according to the UBL standard (Universal Business Language, an international standard for business documents). This will ensure that the files can be read correctly by invoicing software around the world and are processed mostly automatically.

Peppol is a secure and closed network, so you can safely exchange sensitive financial data. The identity of everyone affiliated with the network is verified, so you can be sure that your recipient's invoices are genuine, and avoid invoice fraud.

Peppol also lets you automate your invoicing process. The invoices you send through the network are completely digital, so you can process them automatically in your invoicing software. E-invoices in the UBL standard are automatically read correctly, eliminating the need to retype data. This prevents human error during processing. Linking to your bank account means that outgoing and incoming invoices are automatically matched and you get better insight into your company's financial situation. Peppol is fast, too: your recipient will receive your invoice within 10 minutes of sending it. Combined with automatic processing, this will save a lot of time.

More and more governments are making it mandatory to send e-invoices via Peppol as part of their efforts to combat invoice fraud. In many cases, the requirement to use Peppol to send invoices to and from government agencies is introduced first, and a similar requirement for B2B transactions follows later. The applicable rules vary in different countries, but all over the world governments are looking in to mandatory e-invoicing over the Peppol-network.