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The Italian government has petitioned the European Commission (EC) for authorization to further implement mandatory business-to-business (B2B) e-invoicing through a derogation to Articles 218 and 232 of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Directive. The current derogation is set to expire on 31 December 2024, and thus the Italian government is requesting an extension of the mandate for a further year.

On 23 September, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) announced the commencement of a consultation process with the objective of promoting the adoption of e-invoicing by government administrations and businesses.

PEPPOL was created in 2008 as a pilot Project by the European Comission and is governed by a set of specifications and standars based on multilaterals agreements. Its acronyc stands for Pan-European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL).

In February 2005, the inaugural European regulation requiring electronic invoicing with public administrations came into force. Denmark became the inaugural European country to commence the mandatory transmission and receipt of electronic invoices in B2G relations.

The authority responsible for the implementation of electronic invoicing is the Digitaliseringsstyrelsen. The legislation that established the mandatory use of B2G electronic invoicing is the Bekendtgørelse om elektronisk afregning med offentlige myndigheder.

Blockchain technology was named for the first time in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym that has still not been uncovered) to refer to a system based on information contained in chained blocks and which makes it possible to complete transactions without intermediaries in perfect safety.

One of the particular features of the Asian market is its heterogeneous nature. It is much more diverse, for example, than either the European or Latin American markets. Asia is the largest and most populous continent on Earth. It has a concentration of major economic powers alongside others that are still in the very early stages of development. In such an uneven environment, electronic invoicing is only gradually finding its place.

Electronic invoicing implementation is expanding and more and more used for transactions. It is estimated that in five years’ time this market reaches $20.529 million and becomes the invoicing method for 100% of transactions in many countries.

From 18^th April, 2019, the public administrations of all EU Member States are compelled to electronically receive and process their invoices. This concerns any B2G (Business-to-Government) and G2G (Government-to-Government) trades and transactions within the European Union.

The 2014/55/EU regulation is aimed at standardise a common European e-invoicing format, so that any public or private supplier is able to work with European public administrations seamlessly. Developing cross-border trade falls under the main EU goals.

Electronic invoice or e-Invoicing is a way of proving transactions in a more reliable, convenient, and safe way. It fulfils the same role as traditional invoice and is legally equivalent although it has many more benefits, becoming an essential resource for companies.

This is why implementation of electronic invoicing systems continue growing on several economic sectors. It is a widespread fact both in Europe and Latin America. Taking Spain as an example, during 2018, 181,884,086 electronic invoices were issued, 14.92% more than in 2017. Thanks to this, Spanish companies saved more than €900,000,000 on invoice reception handling that year. Across the Atlantic, e-Invoicing has reached the US, Canada and all over South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, getting over Europe as per implementation degree. 

Estonia, like many other European countries, has decided to implement mandatory eInvoicing for the country’s public procurement. This decision is included in the modification of the Accounting Act that was published on 27 December 2016, which established that all contracting authorities (central, regional and local) must accept and process machine-processable invoices as of 1 March 2017.