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Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Press release17 April 2019Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

eInvoicing: New electronic invoicing standard facilitates public procurement contracts in Europe

Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said: “eInvoicing promotes the digital transformation of public administrations in Europe and of the broader European economy. The new eInvoicing standard supports financial transparency, helps reduce costs and improves efficiency in public procurement transactions. The Commission is supporting the implementation of eInvoicing at national level, so all business across Europe, especially SMEs, can benefit from it."

Based on the Directive on electronic invoicing in public procurement, the eInvoicing standard is part of the Digital Single Market Strategy and aims to unlock online opportunities in public procurement. The Commission estimates that in the period 2015-2017 alone, the use of eInvoicing by EU businesses resulted in €920 million savings. To help EU countries with the implementation of the new standard, the Commission invested over €35 million in grant funding to support the uptake of innovative eInvoicing solutions, such as end-to-end automation, robotics and the use of AI, including through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eInvoicing Building Block. The standard will first apply to public administrations at national level, while regional and local authorities have an additional year to do so. The Commission stands ready to continue to help EU countries in this process.

More information on eInvoicing

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