Electronic invoicing

The invoice is the most important document exchanged between commercial enterprises. It has legal significance as a basis for declaring and deducting VAT, declarations for statistical purposes, and export and import declarations.

At the time of the publication of the Sixth VAT Directive (77/388/EC), there was no need to establish a single set of rules regarding invoicing. Regulations on the creation, transmission, and storage of invoices were left to the discretion of member states. This directive only contained an obligation for entities to issue invoices personally. Currently, the market situation, resulting from the widespread adoption of electronic business practices, requires entrepreneurs to adapt to the legislative systems of member states. Invoicing centers providing services to traders are dealing with this issue. On October 31, 2003, the European Commission authorized the standardization organizations CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI to develop a legal framework for electronic invoicing. The purpose of this authorization was to stimulate standardization work for the effective implementation of Directive 2001/115/EC. From a legal point of view, traders will benefit from the implementation of this Directive, which recognizes the legality of the electronic invoice for VAT collection purposes in the European Union.