The long-awaited European Multi-Stakeholder Forum (EMSF) on e-Invoicing held its first meeting on 13 September 2011 in Brussels. The European Commission established the forum following its policy communication ‘Reaping the benefits of electronic invoicing’, from December 2010.
The Commission endorsed the recommendations of the earlier Expert Group to form National Forums and a European Forum to advocate and advise on e-Invoicing developments at the European and member-state levels. This first meeting was co-chaired by DG Enterprise and Industry and DG Internal Market, the meeting welcomed some 55 representatives to this historic occasion.
At the session, I represented the UK with Manos Schizas from accountancy body ACCA. Whereas most attendees were from the public sector, the UK and Germany stood out by having two private sector representatives. Many people commented on this imbalance and the relative under-representation of the supply-side of the industry.
In terms of European coverage, only 11 of 27 states have a National Forum in place. Those without were strongly urged to rapidly put one in place.
Our keynote speakers were Daniel Crespo, from DG Enterprise, and Mario Nava, of DG Internal Market. Mr Crespo acknowledged the high expectations and responsibilities of the Commission. The EU needs to show its commitment to this agenda and in particular the target to make e-Invoicing the predominant method of invoicing by 2020.
Mr Nava stressed the agenda to reduce red tape, and develop integrated markets for both consumers and businesses. According to a Commission study, concerted action will help yield savings of EUR246 billion over six years. He flagged special issues such as improving intra-EU, cross-border support, the link to SEPA, and the catalytic role of the public sector and public procurement.
A significant part of the meeting was dedicated to member states and invited organisation representatives sharing five-minute overviews of their e-Invoicing progress to date. I left with the overwhelming impression that there is considerable fragmentation in most dimensions across the EU. There are a variety of adoption levels including a number of quite mature markets mainly in Northern Europe.
The ingredients for e-Invoicing success vary:
- Sometimes the role of a proactive public sector is decisive, sometimes it is a common standard
- The creation of a mature and interoperable e-business ecosystem is a success factor, often driven by business users who demand structured information
- In many markets B2C electronic billing has been a catalyst
- For governments and large buyers, waving the ‘mandatory’ stick has had an impact and the availability of one or more commonly used or imposed solutions has had successes.
Part of the meeting was dedicated to agreeing the four activity streams that form the forum’s work programme. In our first year we will focus on:
- Monitoring and benchmarking adoption rates across Europe
- Sharing experience and good practice
- Assessing barriers, especially legal, to cross-border flows
- Supporting the adoption of an e-invoice standard data model
The UK has volunteered to coordinate the second workstream. While there’s a lot to do I’m looking forward to the next meeting in March/April 2012.