Code of practice and glossary of terms

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WORKSHOP ELECTRONIC INVOICES, PHASE 3

Open Meeting

12 December 2011, Brussels

2005 CEN – all rights reserved

Open Meeting, CEN WS eInvoices IIIBrussels 12 December 2011

2008 CEN – all rights reserved 10/01/2010

Code of Practice and Glossary of Terms

Phillip H. Schmandt

PT5 CEN e-Invoicing

Workshop Phase 3

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“CEN should develop by end of 2011, a Code of Practice taking into account the work of the Expert Group on e-invoicing. This Code of Practice, to be adopted by trading parties, service providers and public authorities, should include a consistent terminology and a definition of roles and responsibilities of the distinct actors within the e-invoicing process.”

Reaping the Benefits of Electronic Invoicing for Europe (2 December 2010)


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2 Forward………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3

3 I. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….3

4 A. References and Resources………………………………………………………………………………..4

5 B. Core Principles………………………………………………………………………………………………4

6 II. Code of Practice for Trading Parties……………………………………………………………………5

7 A. When issuing or receiving unstructured data electronic invoices (e.g. pdf), taxable

8 persons should:…………………………………………………………………………………………………5

9 B. When issuing or receiving structured data electronic invoices (e.g. xml or EDIFACT)

10 taxable persons should:………………………………………………………………………………………..6

11 III. Code of Practice for Service Providers………………………………………………………………...7

12 IV. Code of Practice for Public Administrations………………………………………………………….7

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Core Principles


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Legislative Compliance




Solution Neutrality


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Auditability




Proportionality


6



Interoperability




Responsibility


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Code of Practice for Trading Parties




II.A. When issuing or receiving unstructured data electronic invoices (e.g. pdf), taxable persons should:


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II.A.1) Ensure the invoice represents an actual supply of goods or services and is stored with appropriate records establishing this fact in accordance with the business‟ internal control processes. Business internal controls that already achieve this in a paper environment should be sufficient when invoicing electronically.




II.A.3) Determine how the authenticity of the origin, the integrity of the content and

the legibility of the invoice will be ensured. Taxable persons are free to choose

how these requirements will be met.

i) Examples of how authenticity of the origin and integrity of the content can

be met include business controls that create a reliable audit trail between an

invoice and a supply, or technologies such as EDI or qualified electronic

signatures.

ii) Practical information on how these methods can ensure authenticity and

integrity can be found in the Compliance Guidelines and the E-invoicing SME

Enablement CWA. The Compliance Guidelines also provide practical information

on achieving legibility.


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II.A.7) Consider migrating to using structured invoices as an enabler to more fully reaping the benefits of electronic invoicing, ideally a structured invoice based on an open, royalty free standard.




II.B. When issuing or receiving structured data electronic invoices (e.g. xml or EDIFACT) taxable persons should:


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II.B.4) Confirm that the intended invoice recipient would accept a specific Format of electronic invoice and has the appropriate technology to receive and process structured data electronic invoices. The issuer and receiver of the electronic invoice must agree in advance on the Format that will be used, the transmission protocol to be used and the format of the electronic documents to be exchanged. Preferably, this agreement should be explicit to facilitate subsequent evidence, but is not required to be in writing for purposes of VAT compliance.




II.B.9) The Format in which invoices are held may be converted to other Formats in a controlled and auditable process, providing that the VAT information remains correct (i.e. the integrity of the content is not affected).


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III. Code of Practice for Service Providers




III.2) Service Providers should conduct their operations in accordance with the Conformance Criteria or similar codes providing trading parties equivalent protections and promulgated by an international standards organization.


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III.3) Service Providers should use and support royalty free standards for invoice content published by international standards organizations, including as an example the UN/CEFACT Cross Industry Invoice.




III.4) Service Providers operating in a four corner model should interoperate with other service providers by use of the CEN Model Interoperability Agreement or an agreement that offers substantially equivalent protections to trading parties and is promulgated by an open and neutral organization.


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IV. Code of Practice for Public Administrations




IV.1) All public administrations should encourage adoption of this Code of Practice by businesses and service providers.


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IV.2) Public administrations should promote the use of a consistent terminology for electronic invoicing by using the Glossary of Terms.




IV.3.i) If a taxable person already uses business controls with paper invoices to establish a reliable audit trail between the invoice and a supply of goods and services and those business controls ensure authenticity of origin and integrity of content, then those business controls also suffice to demonstrate authenticity of the origin and the integrity of the content of the electronic invoice and no additional technologies or processes are to be required for compliance.


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IV.3.ii) Public Administrations should publish clear and uniform guidelines on what constitutes business controls that create a reliable audit trail between the invoice and a supply of goods and services and ensure authenticity of origin and integrity of content.




IV.3.iii) Public Administrations should not require businesses to implement control measures for audit and/or compliance purposes that are disproportionate to their individual circumstances. Circumstances that must be taken into account include, but should not be limited to, the size, activity and type of taxable person and the number and value of transactions as well as the number and type of suppliers and customers.


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CEN Phase 3 E-invoicing Glossary of Terms

Consolidated Glossary


Code of practice and glossary of terms

Business

cen ws einvoices iiibrussels

schmandtpt5 cen e

rights reservedworkshop

proportionalityopen

responsibilityopen meeting

auditabilityopen meeting

interoperabilityopen

brussels code of practice