The European standard for electronic invoicing — and what it means for your business.
Peppol (Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line) was developed to let businesses across Europe exchange invoices electronically in a common format. It's a network, not a software product. Think of it like email for invoices: as long as both sender and receiver are connected to Peppol, the invoice arrives correctly, regardless of which software each party uses.
Since 1 January 2026, all Belgian businesses must send B2B invoices electronically via Peppol. Traditional invoices — PDFs, Word documents, paper — no longer meet the legal requirement for B2B transactions. This applies to all Belgian-registered companies and self-employed professionals, regardless of size.
A compliant system connects to the Peppol network through a registered Access Point and sends invoices in the correct structured format (UBL 2.1 or CII). Estica is built on Peppol from the ground up. When you send an invoice through Estica, it goes via Peppol automatically — no configuration, no plugins, no separate registration required on your end.
Estica handles outgoing Peppol invoices only — invoices you send to your clients. For receiving incoming Peppol invoices from your own suppliers, use your accounting software or contact your accountant. Most accounting tools have a dedicated Peppol receiving inbox. This is a deliberate scope decision: Estica is built to solve the sending and contractor-management problem, not to replace your accounting system.
The direction of the Peppol delivery depends on the invoicing model. Under a mandate: the invoice is issued by the contractor and delivered via Peppol to the firm — the firm receives it in their Peppol inbox. Under self-billing: the firm issues the invoice in the contractor's name and delivers it via Peppol to the contractor — the contractor receives it in their Peppol inbox. Two different legal situations, two different directions.
Common questions
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