Within the scope of the e.Invoicing project, it is planned to modernize the national information system ‘E. sąskaita’.
Stakeholders Presented with the Benefits and Opportunities of the European ‘eInvoicing’ Standard
2019 June 20
This week, representatives from the public and private sectors were introduced to the electronic invoicing innovation coming into force on 1 July – the new ‘E. sąskaita’ standard module ‘eInvoicing’, which will enable contracting authorities to receive and process electronic invoices compliant with the European standard from other European countries.
At the conference ‘eInvoicing – Results and Opportunities’ held at the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, representatives of state institutions and private businesses gathered to hear the latest information about this innovation, its benefits, and opportunities.
During the conference, representatives of the ‘eInvoicing Cross-Border LT’ project partners discussed new electronic invoicing opportunities. The event also emphasized the need to continue the collaboration that has begun, so that the newly created technological tools become useful to their users.
Among the key benefits of ‘eInvoicing’ are a unified EU invoice standard, as well as the fact that these innovations enable data exchange in real time, which ensures faster payment for goods or services. In addition, faster and cheaper data processing is ensured, and all data is stored centrally according to the highest security standards. Environmental benefits from reduced consumption of paper, printing materials, fuel, and other energy are also noted.
‘eInvoicing’ is another step by Lithuania towards a digital European Union and a common EU services market.
Until now, the ‘E. sąskaita’ information system has enabled suppliers executing public procurement contracts in Lithuania to submit invoices electronically. However, the ability to exchange these documents at the international level—among European countries—has not existed until now.
Following the implementation of the system modernization phase, the technical standards for electronic invoices have been unified, and interoperability has been ensured between systems registered in the international association PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line) throughout Europe. All these changes will allow suppliers from European countries to participate in public procurements conducted by Lithuanian contracting authorities, to submit electronic invoices more promptly and reliably, and ultimately will serve as an incentive for more efficient international movement of goods and services and increase competition among suppliers.
It is projected that, once the innovation enters into force, foreign entities will submit at least 1,500 electronic invoices in the system by the end of the year.
The new ‘eInvoicing’ standard module is currently being tested in Lithuania. Similar systems, created in implementation of the European Parliament and Council Directive 2014/55/EU of April 16, 2014, on the use of electronic invoicing in public procurement, are already operating or will begin operating in other European countries as well.
The provisions of the Directive have been transposed into the Law on Public Procurement of the Republic of Lithuania, with the amendments entering into force on June 11, 2019. Electronic invoices of the new standard may be submitted using any Access Point registered in the PEPPOL international association network that uses the PEPPOL AS4 profile.
The ‘eInvoicing Cross-Border LT’ project, funded by the Connecting Europe Facility, is being implemented by the Centre of Registers together with partners: the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, companies ‘Alna Software’, ‘Skaitos kompiuterių servisas’, ‘Sistemų integracijos sprendimai’, and the association ‘Infobalt’.
‘eInvoicing’ is one of the building blocks of the European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility. Common European standards should stimulate the development of the EU single market, economic growth, and increase the region’s competitiveness.