CEN/TR 16931-4:2017

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-oktober-2017
Elektronsko izdajanje računov - 4. del: Smernice o interoperabilnosti elektronskih
računov na prenosni ravni
Electronic invoicing - Part 4: Guidelines on interoperability of electronic invoices at the
transmission level
Elektronische Rechnungsstellung - Teil 4: Leitfaden über die Interoperabilität
elektronischer Rechnungen auf der Übertragungsebene
Facturation électronique - Partie 4: Lignes directrices relatives à l’interopérabilité des
factures électroniques au niveau de la transmission
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN/TR 16931-4:2017
ICS:
03.100.20 Trgovina. Komercialna Trade. Commercial function.
dejavnost. Trženje Marketing
35.240.63 Uporabniške rešitve IT v IT applications in trade
trgovini
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

CEN/TR 16931-4
TECHNICAL REPORT
RAPPORT TECHNIQUE
July 2017
TECHNISCHER BERICHT
ICS 35.240.63; 35.240.20
English Version
Electronic invoicing - Part 4: Guidelines on interoperability
of electronic invoices at the transmission level
Facturation électronique - Partie 4: Lignes directrices Elektronische Rechnungsstellung - Teil 4: Leitfaden
relatives à l'interopérabilité des factures électroniques über die Interoperabilität elektronischer Rechnungen
au niveau de la transmission auf der Übertragungsebene

This Technical Report was approved by CEN on 14 May 2017. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee CEN/TC 434.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey and United Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Avenue Marnix 17, B-1000 Brussels
© 2017 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. CEN/TR 16931-4:2017 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 8
3 Terms and definitions . 8
4 The challenge of interoperability at the transmission level . 9
4.1 Definition of Interoperability . 9
4.2 The current market reality for e-Invoicing . 9
5 Guidelines . 11
5.1 Common terminology . 11
5.2 Best practices for transmission and related network services . 11
5.3 Use of common technology standards at the transmission level . 12
5.4 Identification, addressing and routing . 13
5.5 Authenticity and integrity . 14
5.6 Data protection . 15
5.7 Implications of format conversion services at the transmission level . 15
5.8 The role of visual presentations (for legibility) including 'hybrid' invoices . 16
5.9 Guidance for the implementation of Operating Models . 17
5.9.1 Introduction . 17
5.9.2 Specific additional Guideline regarding Direct Connection (Bilateral) models . 17
5.9.3 Specific additional Guideline regarding three-corner models . 18
5.9.4 Specific additional Guideline regarding four-corner models . 18
5.10 The need for legally binding agreements at the transmission level . 18
Annex A (informative) Legislation summary . 20
Annex B (informative) Abbreviations . 21
Bibliography . 23
European foreword
This document (CEN/TR 16931-4:2017) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 434
“Electronic invoicing”, the secretariat of which is held by NEN.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This document has been prepared under a mandate given to CEN by the European Commission and the
European Free Trade Association.
This document is part of a set of documents, consisting of:
— EN 16931-1:2017, Electronic invoicing — Part 1: Semantic data model of the core elements of an
electronic invoice;
— CEN/TS 16931-2:2017, Electronic invoicing — Part 2: List of syntaxes that comply with EN 16931-1;
— CEN/TS 16931-3-1:2017, Electronic invoicing — Part 3-1: Methodology for syntax bindings of the
core elements of an electronic invoice;
— CEN/TS 16931-3-2:2017, Electronic invoicing — Part 3-2: Syntax binding for ISO/IEC 19845 (UBL
2.1) invoice and credit note;
— CEN/TS 16931-3-3:2017, Electronic invoicing — Part 3-3: Syntax binding for UN/CEFACT XML
Industry Invoice D16B;
— CEN/TS 16931-3-4:2017, Electronic invoicing — Part 3-4: Syntax binding for UN/EDIFACT INVOIC
D16B;
— CEN/TR 16931-4:2017, Electronic invoicing — Part 4: Guidelines on interoperability of electronic
invoices at the transmission level;
— CEN/TR 16931-5:2017, Electronic invoicing — Part 5: Guidelines on the use of sector or country
extensions in conjunction with EN 16931-1, methodology to be applied in the real environment;
— FprCEN/TR 16931-6:2017, Electronic invoicing — Part 6: Result of the test of EN 16931-1 with
respect to its practical application for an end user.
Introduction
The European Commission states that “The mass adoption of e-invoicing within the EU would lead to
significant economic benefits and it is estimated that moving from paper to e-invoices will generate
savings of around EUR 240 billion over a six-year period” [1]. Based on this recognition “The
Commission wants to see e-invoicing become the predominant method of invoicing by 2020 in Europe”.
As a means to achieve this goal, Directive 2014/55/EU [2] on electronic invoicing in public
procurement aims at facilitating the use of electronic invoices by economic operators when supplying
goods, works and services to public administrations (B2G), as well as the support for trading between
economic operators themselves (B2B). In particular, it sets out the legal framework for the
establishment and adoption of a European Standard (EN) for the semantic data model of the core
elements of an electronic invoice (EN 16931-1).
In line with Directive 2014/55/EU [2], and after publication of the reference to EN 16931-1 in the
Official Journal of the European Union, all contracting public authorities and contracting entities in the
EU will be obliged to receive and process an e-invoice as long as:
— it is in conformance with the semantic content as described in EN 16931-1;
— it is represented in any of the syntaxes identified in CEN/TS 16931-2, in accordance with the
request referred to in Paragraph 1 of Article 3 of Directive 2014/55/EU;
— it is in conformance with the appropriate mapping defined in the applicable subpart of
CEN/TS 16931-3 (all parts).
The Standardization Request issued by the European Commission in connection with
Directive 2014/55/EU requested that CEN should also develop Guidelines on interoperability of
electronic invoices at the transmission level, taking into account the need of ensuring the authenticity of
the origin and the integrity of the electronic invoices’ content, to be given in a Technical Report (TR)
The Guidelines cover interoperability at the transmission level for invoices based on the core invoice
model and its syntax representations to and from the involved trading and supporting parties. They
could also be applied more widely to cover the transmission of electronic invoices rendered in other
standards and formats i.e. they are invoice content and format neutral.
The Guidelines for interoperability at the transmission level (the Guidelines) are intended to guide all
stakeholders who make use of e-Invoicing within the European Union (EU) and the European Economic
Area (EEA), and Switzerland. They are addressed to trading parties, service and software providers in
relation to the transmission methods or network solutions they use or support, in order to encourage
the adoption and further development of good practices, recommendations and standards for the
transmission level. This is intended to promote efficient, cost effective and widely available e-Invoicing
practices and services.
It is expected that some groups of stakeholders, such as small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and
smaller contracting authorities, may find these Guidelines inherently technically challenging and
inaccessible at a practical level. This is recognized, and consequently it is important that at a context-
specific level e.g. at Member State or Sector level, policy-makers, larger contracting authorities, SME
representative and municipal associations, supportive government agencies, professional advisers, and
service and solution providers take responsibility to guide such organizations in relation to these
Guidelines. It is by the nature of the Guidelines that the provision of further specific guidance for SMEs
and smaller contracting authorities could not be done at a European level, but rather at national and
sector-specific level,
It is recommended that the Guidelines set out herein are adopted by market participants, in such a way
that separate and competing approaches, solutions and networks find common ground at the
transmission level, and on the basis of which trading parties are able to reach the maximum number of
their counterparties in a convenient manner. The Guidelines leave as many aspects as possible as a
matter of choice or in the competitive domain by only focusing on those features of transmission that
are essential to establishing interoperability.
It is envisaged that a large number of network and network-based solution instances will subscribe to
and adopt the Guidelines. There is a clear separation between the Guidelines and the design and
implementation of individual network and transmission solutions, which range from use of the ‘open’
Internet through virtual private Networks and managed services. The Guidelines are neutral as to the
individual interoperability models that the market develops and uses to accelerate the mass adoption of
e-Invoicing.
The following EU stakeholders have been consulted in addition to the Members of CEN/TC 434 and
their supporting National Standards Organizations (NSOs):
— European Multi Stakeholder Forum on e-Invoicing;
— European Commission units responsible for EU Large Scale Pilots, in particular e-SENS – DIGIT, DG
CONNECT, DG GROW, and for the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) in particular the Digital Service
Infrastructure for e- Delivery;
— OpenPEPPOL Association;
— European E-invoicing Service Providers Association (EESPA).
1 Scope
This Technical Report recommends a set of Guidelines to ensure interoperability at the transmission
level to be used in conjunction with the European Norm (EN) for the semantic data model of the core
elements of an electronic invoice and its other associated deliverables. The Guidelines are by nature
non-prescriptive and non-binding.
These Guidelines take into account the following aspects:
1) recommending best practices for use at the transmission level;
2) supporting interoperability between all the parties and systems that need to interact and within the
various operating models in common use;
3) ensuring a level playing field for the various operating models and bi-lateral implementations and
for the use of existing and future infrastructures, which support e-Invoicing;
4) promoting a common terminology and non-proprietary standards for transmission and related
areas;
5) ensuring the authent
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