What Is Peppol? E-Invoicing Network Explained
What is Peppol? A plain-English guide to the four-corner model, Peppol IDs, access points, BIS Billing 3.0, PINT and which countries use Peppol for e-invoicing.
Quick answer: Peppol is an international network and set of standards for exchanging e-invoices and other business documents as structured data. It uses a four-corner model: you send an invoice through your access point, which delivers it to your buyer's access point, which passes it to the buyer. Every participant has a Peppol ID, and invoices follow standards such as Peppol BIS Billing 3.0.
If a customer, a government agency or a new e-invoicing law has told you to "send it via Peppol", you are not alone. Peppol has become the backbone for e-invoicing in a growing list of countries. This guide explains what Peppol is, how the four-corner model works, what a Peppol ID and access point are, which formats are used, and where Peppol is used today. If you just need a clear PDF for a client outside any mandate, our free invoice generator still does that job.
Note: This is general information, not tax or legal advice. How Peppol is used, and whether it is required, depends on each country's rules, which change. Check with your tax authority or national Peppol authority. The OpenPeppol website is the official source for the network and its specifications.
What does Peppol stand for?
Peppol originally stood for Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine. It began as a European Commission-backed project in 2008 to make cross-border public procurement easier. In 2012 the work moved to OpenPeppol, a non-profit international association based in Belgium, which now governs the network. Although it started in Europe and with public buyers, Peppol is now used for business-to-business invoicing and outside Europe, from Australia to Japan.
How the four-corner model works
The four-corner model is the core idea. It is similar to how email works between different providers.
- Corner 1, the supplier: creates an invoice in its accounting or ERP system.
- Corner 2, the supplier's access point: a certified Peppol service provider that validates the invoice and sends it across the network.
- Corner 3, the buyer's access point: receives the invoice. It can be a different provider from the supplier's.
- Corner 4, the buyer: gets the invoice straight into its own system, ready to approve and pay.
Behind the scenes, corner 2 finds corner 3 by looking up the buyer's Peppol ID in two registries: the SML (Service Metadata Locator), a central DNS-based index run for OpenPeppol, and an SMP (Service Metadata Publisher), which records which document types a participant can receive and at which access point. You never see this; your provider handles it.
The fifth corner
Some countries add a fifth corner: the tax authority receives a copy of the invoice data in real time or near real time. The UAE's mandate works this way, as our UAE e-invoicing guide explains, and Belgium plans real-time reporting via Peppol from 2028. Australia, Singapore and others have also explored or adopted five-corner models.
What is a Peppol ID?
Your Peppol ID (participant identifier) is your address on the network. It has two parts: a scheme code that says what kind of number it is, and the number itself.
| Scheme code | Identifier type | Example format |
|---|---|---|
| 0208 | Belgian enterprise number | 0208:0123456789 |
| 0151 | Australian Business Number (ABN) | 0151:12345678901 |
| 0088 | GLN (GS1 Global Location Number) | 0088:5790000000001 |
| 0192 | Norwegian organisation number | 0192:987654321 |
| 0204 | German Leitweg-ID (public sector) | 0204:991-12345-67 |
The examples are illustrative, not real participants. In most countries your Peppol ID is based on your national business or tax number, which is why getting that number right on every invoice matters. Our guide to the tax ID on an invoice covers the main national identifiers. You can usually check whether a customer is reachable on Peppol in the public Peppol Directory, or ask your access point to look them up.
What is a Peppol access point?
An access point is a service provider certified by a Peppol authority to send and receive documents on the network. Accounting software vendors, specialist e-invoicing companies and some banks run access points. You sign up with one, it registers your Peppol ID, and it gives you a way to send and receive documents, often built into your accounting software.
What to compare between providers:
- Price: per document, monthly bundle or included in your accounting subscription
- Whether it integrates with your current software or needs manual upload
- Which document types it supports (invoices, credit notes, orders, invoice responses)
- Country-specific extras, such as national formats or tax reporting
- How it shows rejected or undelivered documents
For small businesses that send only a few invoices a month, an accounting package with built-in Peppol is often simpler than contracting with a standalone access point. Our comparison of an invoice generator vs accounting software explains when that move makes sense.
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 and PINT
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is the main Peppol specification for invoices and credit notes. It is a profile of the European standard EN 16931, exchanged in practice as UBL 2.1 XML. Countries can add national rules on top, so a Dutch, Norwegian or Belgian invoice may need extra fields, all within the BIS framework.
PINT (Peppol International) is a newer model built to work beyond Europe. It defines a shared core that each country specialises: PINT AE in the UAE, JP PINT in Japan, and versions for countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. The aim is that a supplier in one country can invoice a buyer in another without custom mapping.
Germany's XRechnung and France's formats are also built on EN 16931, which is why they can interoperate with Peppol. Our guide to XRechnung and ZUGFeRD explains the German side.
Which countries use Peppol?
| Country or region | How Peppol is used (as of October 2026) |
|---|---|
| Belgium | Default channel for mandatory domestic B2B e-invoicing since 1 January 2026; B2G before that |
| Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Ireland and others | Widely used for public-sector invoicing, increasingly for B2B |
| Germany | One channel for invoices to federal public authorities; optional for B2B |
| France | Approved platforms are designed to interoperate with Peppol |
| United Arab Emirates | Mandate built on a Peppol-based five-corner model with PINT AE, phased in from 2027 |
| Australia and New Zealand | Government-backed Peppol framework; public-sector use, voluntary B2B |
| Singapore | National InvoiceNow network built on Peppol |
| Japan | JP PINT standard used for qualified invoices under Japan's invoice system |
| Malaysia | Peppol available for exchange; MyInvois validation still required for in-scope businesses |
Not every e-invoicing country uses Peppol. India, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Poland and Mexico run their own national platforms, where invoices go to the tax authority for clearance. Our e-invoicing guide compares the two approaches, and our pages on Belgium and Poland show one of each side by side.
Worked example: one invoice, four corners
A Brussels web agency bills a Ghent retailer for a website update. Both are Belgian VAT-registered, so the invoice must be a structured e-invoice, normally sent via Peppol.
| Line | Qty | Unit price (€) | Net (€) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website redesign, fixed fee | 1 | 3,200.00 | 3,200.00 |
| Hosting, 12 months | 12 | 25.00 | 300.00 |
| VAT 21% | 735.00 | ||
| Total | 4,235.00 | ||
The maths: 3,200 + 300 = €3,500 net; 21% VAT = €735; total €4,235. The agency's accounting software (corner 1) creates a BIS Billing 3.0 file addressed to the retailer's Peppol ID, 0208 plus its enterprise number. The agency's access point (corner 2) validates it and looks up the retailer in the SML and SMP, then delivers it to the retailer's access point (corner 3), which pushes it into the retailer's bookkeeping software (corner 4). No PDF needs to be emailed, although one can be attached.
How to get on Peppol: four steps
- Check whether your software already supports it. Many accounting packages in Peppol countries include sending and receiving, sometimes switched off by default.
- Register your Peppol ID. Your access point registers you using your business or tax number, and you appear in the SMP so others can reach you.
- Collect customers' Peppol IDs. Usually these are just their business numbers with the right scheme code. Your provider can confirm whether each customer is reachable.
- Send a test invoice. Start with one friendly customer and check how status messages and rejections come back before switching everyone over.
Peppol invoice vs emailed PDF
| Emailed PDF | Peppol e-invoice | |
|---|---|---|
| Read by | A person, or OCR software that guesses fields | The buyer's system, directly |
| Delivery proof | None beyond the email | Delivery confirmed between access points |
| Fraud risk | Easy to fake or alter bank details | Sender identity verified through the network |
| Meets mandates such as Belgium's | No | Yes, if the content is complete |
Can a free invoice generator send invoices via Peppol?
Ours cannot. Our generator is free, runs in your browser, saves drafts in local storage and exports a PDF. It does not create Peppol BIS XML, has no access point and does not register Peppol IDs. Where Peppol is required, you need accounting software or a service connected to an access point. A generator remains handy for quotes, proformas and invoices to clients outside any mandate; the Minimal template keeps those clean.
Next step
Check whether your customers or your country require Peppol, then ask your accounting software provider whether Peppol sending and receiving is included. If you invoice in Australia, our guide to tax invoice requirements in Australia explains how Peppol fits alongside ATO rules.
Frequently asked questions
What is Peppol in simple terms?
Peppol is a shared set of rules and a network that lets businesses and governments exchange invoices and other documents as structured data. Each participant connects through one certified service provider, called an access point, and can then reach anyone else registered on the network.
Is Peppol free to use?
The Peppol specifications are open and free, but sending and receiving usually requires a certified access point, and most charge a fee. Some accounting packages include Peppol exchange in their subscription, and some governments offer free or low-cost options for small businesses.
What is a Peppol ID?
A Peppol ID (participant identifier) is the address used to route documents to you on the network. It combines a scheme code with an identifier, for example 0208 followed by a Belgian enterprise number, or 0151 followed by an Australian ABN.
Is Peppol mandatory?
Peppol itself is not a law, but some mandates require or rely on it. Belgium's B2B e-invoicing mandate uses Peppol as the default channel, and the UAE mandate is built on a Peppol-based model. Many governments, including in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, accept or require Peppol for invoices to public bodies.
Can I send a PDF over Peppol?
Not as the invoice itself. Peppol carries structured XML documents such as Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 invoices. A PDF can be attached to the XML as a supporting document, but the XML is what the buyer's system processes.
Who runs Peppol?
Peppol is governed by OpenPeppol, an international non-profit association based in Belgium, founded in 2012 after an EU-funded project. OpenPeppol maintains the specifications and agreements, while national Peppol Authorities supervise access points in their countries. No single company owns the network, which is why you can choose any certified access point and still reach every other participant.
What documents can be sent over Peppol besides invoices?
Peppol supports a range of procurement documents, including credit notes, purchase orders, order responses, despatch advice and catalogues. Invoices and credit notes are by far the most widely used. Whether you can exchange other documents depends on what your access point supports and what your trading partner has registered to receive in the Peppol directory.
Is Peppol secure?
Peppol is designed for secure exchange. Access points must be certified, use digital certificates issued within the Peppol trust framework, and send documents with the AS4 messaging protocol, which supports encryption and signed delivery receipts. That makes Peppol much harder to spoof than emailed PDFs, although you still need good security practices inside your own accounting system and access point account.
How do I check whether a customer can receive invoices on Peppol?
Search the public Peppol Directory by company name or identifier, such as a VAT, enterprise or ABN number. If the customer appears, the listing shows which document types it can receive. Your access point can also check this automatically before sending. If the customer is not registered, you will usually need to send another way, such as a PDF by email.
Can I switch to a different Peppol access point?
Yes. Your Peppol ID belongs to your business, not to the access point, so you can move to another provider. The old provider must remove your registration so the new one can register your ID for the same document types, otherwise invoices may be routed to the wrong place. Plan the switch with both providers and test receiving before cancelling the old contract.
Invoice Creator Editorial Team
Guides on invoicing, cash flow and small-business finance from Invoice Creator, operated by Next Software Development Company. Content is reviewed for accuracy against the fields our own invoice generator produces.
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