EncryptInvoice News
Articles for European Union
This hub covers e-invoicing and digital reporting obligations across the European Union, including the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) reform, the EN 16931 semantic standard, and the Peppol network. Readers find country-by-country mandate timelines, guidance on structured invoice formats such as UBL and CII, and practical steps for achieving cross-border compliance within the single market.
Enterprises must construct and maintain tax controversy files to defend filed tax positions during disputes, preserving decision rationale, calculation logic, and procedural history. This operational discipline requires precise framing of taxpayer entities, tax types, periods, and filed positions, with supporting evidence organized chronologically.
EN 16931 compliance in EU e-invoicing requires more than a semantic data model—it demands adherence to XML syntaxes, recipient-specific profiles, and national mandates. Learn the layered architecture and what's changing in 2026.
Belgium released operational guidance specifying TARIC certificate codes and customs declaration data elements required for EUDR compliance starting 30 December 2026. The guidance details five C-type codes and ten Y-type codes that must be reported in customs declarations, along with standardized reference number formats.
A new public monitoring service provides real-time visibility into Peppol Access Point AS4 endpoint availability across 19 countries, tracking uptime and response times. The tool helps businesses evaluate infrastructure reliability for mandatory e-invoicing compliance and offers insights into Peppol network performance for procurement decisions.
E-invoicing deployment models should be selected based on business relationships and integration context—not legal entity count or company size. The three primary models (Integrator, Cloud Accounting, and Enterprise) are distinguished by use case rather than organizational scale.
OpenPeppol has approved an updated Security Policy effective September 30, 2026, introducing three new certification frameworks—BSI IT Grundschutz, CyFun Essential, and eIDAS QTSP—as equivalent to ISO/IEC 27001. This broadens compliance options for Peppol network participants and provides greater flexibility in meeting security obligations.
Starting on 1 October 2026, the EU will require steel importers to declare and document the country where their steel was first melted and cast, aiming to improve supply chain traceability and address global overcapacity. Non-compliant shipments will face entry refusals.
The EU published its new Union Customs Code on 19 September 2026, creating the European Union Customs Authority (EUCA) and mandating a centralised EU Customs Data Hub. This represents the most significant overhaul of EU customs governance in decades, with direct implications for cross-border trade processing and VAT compliance.
OpenPeppol launched the Peppol Lookup Service on September 14, 2026, enabling real-time verification of participant publication status on the Peppol network. The service addresses asynchronous Directory propagation delays and reduces friction in EU e-invoicing compliance workflows for Service Providers and technical implementers.
Belgium, Poland, and Germany have adopted divergent e-invoicing mandates for 2026-2028, with different timelines, turnover thresholds, and grace-period policies. Cross-border enterprises face substantial compliance challenges navigating three distinct regulatory frameworks simultaneously.
The Peppol e-invoicing network reached 6.16 million registered participant identifiers in August 2026, growing 23% in a single month driven by mandatory B2B e-invoicing requirements in France and Belgium. This compliance-driven surge signals a shift from voluntary adoption to regulatory-mandated onboarding, positioning Peppol as a global infrastructure standard.
Factur-X 1.09.2 and ZUGFeRD 2.5.2, released August 4, 2026, introduce sub-line management for complex invoicing scenarios. These updates align with France and Germany's e-invoicing reforms and address gaps in invoice line-item granularity for complex product configurations.
