EBA and Innopay: e-Invoicing 2010, European Market Guide

White paper & report | 11 July 2011

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The e-Invoicing 2010, European Market Guide brings together, in a single reference guide, a description and analysis of the current European landscape for e-invoicing.

Its objective is to provide general and specialist readers with a description of the market landscape and recent developments in e-invoicing in Europe. The focus of this document is invoicing and e-invoicing in the European Single Market and therefore the document contains limited references to classical international trade procedures.

The key findings are:

  • e-invoicing continues to grow very rapidly from a low base, but there remain major under-addressed market segments, particularly in the SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) sector

  • The European market for e-invoicing services and solutions is very fragmented, and reaching all potential e-invoice users is a key issue, which banks could assist in addressing

  • Aside from overcoming technical barriers, the biggest issue to be addressed in e-business and e-invoicing is the need to convince the management of enterprises to make the business case and recognise the immediate efficiency and cost benefits

  • E-invoicing has been encouraged by the adoption of European legislation supporting e-invoicing but this legislative framework requires further evolution, especially in greater clarity and harmonisation. E-invoicing should not be legally more demanding than paper invoicing.

  • The wide adoption of a standard for the content of an invoice is an important long term goal. However, its absence today is not a showstopper given the diversity of the market and the presence of format conversion facilities. The UN/CEFACT Cross Industry Invoice is a promising development although further work is required to translate its data model into practical implementations.

  • The need for interoperability and reach remains a priority item and should be clearly addressed otherwise e-invoicing will not achieve its potential

  • There is a need to address a number of governance issues for the e-invoicing and related market spaces

Download the e-Invoicing 2010 report from the Euro Banking Association website.