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Easy connect to Peppol Network with Babelway
By Noha Sharmy
October 21, 2024
Read time:3 MINUTES
Join our webinar on December 5th to see Babelway in action!
What is the Peppol network and why does it matter?
Peppol, the Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine network, offers a seamless way for businesses and governments to exchange electronic documents. As an open platform, Peppol eliminates the need for complex integrations and allows for straightforward communication between parties. Unlike proprietary networks, Peppol utilizes standardized formats and a centralized registry, simplifying the process of sending and receiving documents without prior testing or setup.
By joining the Peppol network, businesses on the receiving end make their information publicly available, enabling others to easily connect and exchange documents. All that’s required is for a company to specify the document types they accept and provide basic identifying details. The sending party can then directly transmit files to the Peppol network, with all necessary recipient information embedded within the document itself. The sending party does not need to register on PEPPOL, only the receiver party needs to.
Following the trend in Europe towards digitalization and in-alignment with VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) proposal of the European Commission, Belgium has adopted this year on February 2024 the law for introducing mandatory B2B e-invoicing, with Peppol being one of the methods that businesses can use to transact e-invoices.
For the B2B e-invoicing mandate in Belgium, while not explicitly mandated, the Peppol network is highly recommended. Moreover, as a global network that facilitates electronic invoicing and other business documents, using Peppol can simplify the process of exchanging e-invoices, especially for businesses dealing with international transactions.
Introducing Babelway into the equation: connect to the Peppol network with zero effort
At Babelway, a Tradeshift company, our commitment has always been to foster seamless connections between our customers and their B2B partners, regardless of the partner’s technology or service provider.
We’ve consistently strived to support a broad range of standards to facilitate interoperability. Peppol’s decentralized approach, which avoids the creation of a centralized network, is a major advantage. By addressing routing and governance concerns across service providers, Peppol has the potential to become a universally accepted standard.
A Peppol access point serves as a gateway for participants to send and receive documents through the Peppol network. Access Point Providers offer specialized services to facilitate communication between Peppol participants. Babelway is one such provider. The Registry, or SML, maintains a shared database containing identification information about each participant and the corresponding access point connection details.
Create your Peppol connection today
If you’re already a Babelway customer in Belgium, you are in luck. Connect to Peoppol with just 3 steps:
- Fill in your Peppol ID
- Select document types to support on Peppol
- Deploy and that’s it!
Setting up a Peppol gateway within Babelway is straightforward. Simply provide your identification details and specify the document types you accept.
Peppol utilizes standardized documents, allowing participants to exchange various file formats. While numerous options exist, all are rooted in the UBL standard XML.
Beyond configuring the Peppol gateway, you’ll also need to customize the messages you’ll be sending or receiving. This involves using UBL standard documents and converting them to/from file formats compatible with your system.
To send invoices that comply with the Belgium mandate is even easier :
- Set-up the connection protocol you want to use to send invoices
- (optional) Convert your invoice format to the PEPPOL Billing 3.0 Standard
- Select the PEPPOL Gateway OUT
- Deploy and that’s it!
Join our webinar on December 5th to see Babelway in action!
Babelway, a Tradeshift company, is known to be officially used by both the Belgian Government (the governmental platform for B2G e-invoicing, Mercurius, is powered by Babelway and currently running under its technology) and the Luxembourg Government to exchange B2G invoices. Babelway has also already been part of the Peppol association for 10 years, since 2014, and supports the Peppol protocol on its platform.
If you’re not already using Babelway as your EDI and B2B integration tool in Belgium, this is your sign to start. Request a demo now or try it out yourself for free for 30 days.
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