Brussels, 11/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 11 March, the MEPs lent their vigorous support to electronic invoicing in the framework of public procurement. They adopted, by a very large majority (646 votes in favour, 25 against and 5 abstentions), new European rules on this subject on the basis of the report by Birgit Collin-Langen (EPP, Germany). From 2017 onwards, the member states will have to roll out e-invoicing in the framework of public procurement.
The agreement on the subject between the European institutions provides for the European Commission to define new standards to harmonise electronic invoicing in public procurement over the next three years. The central governments of the member states will have to do accept electronic invoices which comply with the standards and which they receive in the framework of public procurement, within a maximum of a year and a half (18 months). However, European businesses will remain free to send invoices in paper format or electronically. The regional and local governments will have an additional 30 months to come into line. These new European rules will allow a move towards paperless invoicing, with fewer than 15% of invoices in the EU currently issued electronically.
European Commissioner for the Internal Market Michel Barnier welcomed the vote of the MEPs, stressing the role of electronic invoicing in fighting fraud. He also pointed out that the new rules had a double objective: “on the one hand, they will greatly reduce the cost and complexity of using e-invoices for both governments and businesses, including SMEs. On the other, they will remove market barriers and enhance cross-border interoperability between e-invoicing systems.” (MD)