Peppol (Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line) is the European network for structured electronic invoicing (e-invoicing). It allows sending digital invoices securely and directly from accounting system to accounting system - without PDFs, without manual processing.
Peppol uses the UBL(Universal Business Language) format for this purpose. This is an internationally standardized structure that allows invoice data - such as amounts, VAT, customer data and due dates - to be exchanged machine-readable and error-free between software packages. Thanks to UBL, invoices can be processed fully automatically, without manual intervention.
In Belgium, Peppol e-invoicing becomes mandatory for all B2B transactions between VAT-registered companies as of Jan. 1, 2026. Peppol is also already mandatory for government contracts today.