Brussels, 28/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - The expert group on electronic invoicing, set up by the Commission to identify implementation problems and obstacles encountered in e-Invoicing, will meet in Brussels on Thursday 29 May. The group, made up of 30 representatives of the public sector, SME organisations, payment service providers and standardisation organisations, will submit an interim report by November or December. Speaking to press on Wednesday 28 May, group chairman Bo Harald set out the general line of the group's recommendations. One thing is sure: manual invoicing has no future.
The advantages of e-Invoicing are not simply economic (according to the European Commission, €238 billion could be saved if paper invoices were abandoned for B2B transactions), there are also environmental advantages (energy and raw materials needed to produce the paper, printing, envelopes, distribution and recycling of some 20 billion invoices issued every year in the EU). 400,000 tonnes of paper, 2,700 tonnes of ink, 160 million litres of oil, 1,400 GWH of energy and 15 million trees could be saved. Difficulties in moving to e-Invoicing are not related to technological constraints, the procedure could not be simpler, Harald said. No need for start out investment, or special software, so implementation is easy (but there have to be checks to ensure that excessive charges for the technology are not made, he acknowledged). Suppliers and clients are too often willing to issue or receive a paper invoice, and this is slowing the development of electronic invoicing, he said. The cost of paper invoicing has to be passed on, he added. Other obstacles are the lack of standards and the legislative framework that still varies widely from one member state to another. Some (Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Finland) have adopted measures to promote e-Invoicing, particularly on the legislative and regulatory levels, by imposing or preparing to impose this type of transaction for public sector payments. By 2010, 15 member states will be using e-Invoicing, a recent report says. To make electronic invoicing attractive, easy payment must also be guaranteed, and this means the banking community has to be involved, Harald pointed out. (A.B.)