In the framework of events of the  Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, will take place in Madrid the Conference on “Electronic invoicing in Europe” organised by the European Commission. This international Conference will gather european eInvoice experts in the Auditorium of the State Secretariat of Telecommunications and the Information Society in Madrid the 27 and 28 of April 2010. ASIMELEC Congress on electronic invoice (this year in its 5th edition) will take place on the following day, the 29th of April of 2010, so delegates can particiate on both events if they wish to.

Aim of the conference

Electronic invoices, compared to paper invoices, offer substantial advantages for public and private organisations of all sizes. Widespread uptake of electronic invoicing could be of considerable benefit for the EU economy with potential savings for trading partners (senders and receivers of invoices). However, most of the potential offered by e-Invoicing remains untapped, especially among SMEs, because of the continued existence of regulatory and technical barriers to its full deployment.

Over the past few years, the European Commission has given continuous support to the uptake of e-Invoicing solutions. Several initiatives at European level have been launched in order to facilitate the emergence of a pan-European e-invoicing environment for businesses and public authorities. In particular, the Commission set up an independent Expert Group on e-Invoicing who proposed, at the end of 2009, a European e-Invoicing Framework (EEIF) with recommendations for the provision of e-Invoicing services in an open, competitive and interoperable manner across Europe.

In parallel to these initiatives, other activities affecting the uptake of electronic invoices are:

• The creation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and
• The VAT directive (2006/112/EC) and its proposed amendments on electronic invoicing currently discussed at the Council.

The European e-Invoicing framework proposed by the Expert Group challenged the identified regulatory and technical barriers with recommendations addressing standards, interoperability, legal requirements and the uptake of e-invoicing by SMEs. These propositions have been published and are open to public consultation until the 26 February 2010.

The conference is being held at an appropriate moment to debate the recommendations of the Expert Group and discuss the key actions to be taken to remove the barriers which currently affect the use of electronic invoices. In that respect, four sessions addressing the current difficulties of e-Invoicing are planned on :

• SMEs and E-invoicing
• Interoperability
• Standards
• Legal framework for electronic invoices

Speakers will include Members of the European Parliament and the European Commission, representatives from the European Central Bank, high-level representatives of EU Member State governments, businesses, standardisation bodies and NGOs.

The conference is organised by the European Commission under the auspices of the Spanish Presidency of the Council. The conference will take place at the State Secretariat of Telecommunications and the Information Society in Madrid the 27 and 28 of April 2010.

This is a clear oportunity to learn more about UBL, the preferred XML format to be used internationally to foster electronic invoice interoperability.

ASIMELEC eInvoice Congress

ASIMELEC has been organizing  4 Congreses on Electronic Signature and Certified Imaging, and 2010 will see the 5th edition.   This year the event will show an international agenda with key bullets, such as interoperability issues, the ammendment of the VAT directive and fostering eInvoice adoption by SMBs. The date for the event is the 29 of april 2010, and will be organized in close relationship with the Official event.

One of the succes case will be based on the  Invoicex Project.

This V Congreso de Factura Electrónica y Digitalización Certificada, (5th Congress on Electronic Invoice and Certified Imaging) will have an approximate cost of 250 euros. In a few days, registration will be available at  ASIMELEC web site.

Related articles:

• Ejemplo de factura en UBL, CII, facturae (in spanish)
• Discrepancia con el Informe del Grupo de Expertos (in spanish)
• Informe final del Grupo de Expertos en Factura Electrónica (in spanish)
• Expert Group on e-invoicing: a flop?
• VAT proposal: e-invoicing not equal to paper invoicing