Peppol is the secure and international network for exchanging e-invoices, purchase orders and other business documents. The network is active in more than 40 countries and is managed by OpenPeppol, an international non-profit organisation.
Peppol uses the four-corner model: a sender and receiver communicate via their own Access Point, similar to how email works via mail servers.
- The sender sends an e-invoice to their Access Point (e.g. eConnect)
- The sender's Access Point looks up via the SMP (Service Metadata Publisher) how the receiver can be reached
- The invoice is securely transferred to the receiver's Access Point
- The receiver receives the invoice in their own system
Every participant is verified. No ghost invoices, no identity fraud. All communication is encrypted.
One registration gives access to 40+ countries. No separate agreements per country or receiver.
One format (UBL/PEPPOL BIS) that works everywhere. Automatic processing without manual re-entry.
In Belgium, e-invoicing via Peppol has been mandatory for all B2B transactions since 1 January 2026. This means Belgian companies are legally required to exchange invoices electronically via the Peppol network, including invoices between Belgian companies.
In the Netherlands, a requirement for invoicing to central government (B2G) has been in place for longer. Government suppliers must submit their invoices electronically via Peppol or DigiInkoop. The expectation is that the Netherlands will also introduce a B2B requirement by 1 January 2030, in line with the European ViDA directive (VAT in the Digital Age).
The ViDA directive mandates digital reporting for all cross-border B2B transactions within the EU from 1 July 2030. With every invoice, a summary is sent electronically to the tax authority. Peppol plays a central role as the underlying network for the exchange.
Beyond Belgium and the Netherlands, the obligation is growing. France is introducing a phased e-invoicing mandate from 2026, Germany has made XRechnung mandatory for government suppliers and Poland is working on the KSeF system. The trend is clear: e-invoicing is becoming the standard in more and more countries, and Peppol is the network that guarantees international interoperability.
Via the eConnect invoice portal you can send e-invoices for free via Peppol. You create an account, compose your invoice in the browser and send it directly via the Peppol network. This makes the barrier to start with e-invoicing as low as possible, including for small businesses and freelancers.
For receiving and automatically processing invoices, various subscriptions are available. The costs depend on volume and desired functionality. With automatic processing, invoices are processed directly in your accounting software or ERP system, without manual intervention.
There are no hidden costs for Peppol registration or format conversion. Automatic conversion between different e-invoice formats (such as UBL, CII, XRechnung and Factur-X) is included as standard. You do not pay extra when a supplier invoices in a different format than you use.
At higher volumes, the transaction costs per invoice decrease. For organisations with specific requirements (such as custom integrations, advanced validation or enterprise support), additional SLA levels are available. Contact us for a tailored quote.
Yes, eConnect has standard integrations with more than 100 financial software packages, including AFAS, Exact Online, Unit4, SAP, Dynamics 365 Business Central, SnelStart and various sector-specific packages. With these integrations, you set up the connection once, after which invoices are automatically sent and received via Peppol from your own software.
If you use a package for which no standard integration is available yet, the PSB (Procurement Service Bus) offers a fully documented REST API. The API features Swagger UI for interactive documentation, OAuth2 authentication and webhooks for real-time status notifications. Additionally, SDKs are available in PHP and .NET for faster integration.
The integration with your software goes beyond invoices alone. Via the same integration you can also exchange orders, credit notes, despatch advices and status messages. Format conversion is handled automatically: regardless of the receiver's format, eConnect delivers the document in the correct format.
Check the overview of all integrations on our documentation site, or contact us to discuss the options for your software.
An Access Point is a certified service provider that handles the technical connection to the Peppol network. It works similarly to a telecom provider: just as you need a provider to make phone calls, you need an Access Point to send and receive e-invoices via Peppol. The Access Point validates documents, looks up the correct receiver and securely transfers the invoice.
Each Access Point is certified and audited by a national Peppol Authority. In the Netherlands, this is the NPa (Dutch Peppol Authority). This certification guarantees that the Access Point meets the Peppol standards for security, reliability and interoperability. All participants are screened via a Know Your Customer (KYC) process, which ensures the reliability of the network.
eConnect is a Peppol Certified Access Point provider and co-founder of the NPa. With a minimum of five active Access Points, more than 12 million processed documents per year and 20.000+ connected organisations, eConnect offers one of the largest and most reliable Access Points in the Benelux.
The SMP (Service Metadata Publisher) is the address book of Peppol. It registers which organisations are connected to which Access Points and which document types they can receive. When an e-invoice is sent, the sender's Access Point looks up via the SMP how the receiver can be reached. Without the SMP, the network would not know where to deliver an invoice.
The SMP works together with the SML (Service Metadata Locator), a central register that tracks at which SMP an organisation is registered. The SML points to the correct SMP, and the SMP provides the technical details: the address of the Access Point and the supported document types.
eConnect has its own, fully self-built SMP implementation that is OASIS SMP-compliant. The European Commission lists eConnect on the official list of eDelivery SMP conformant solutions, which features only ten solutions worldwide. Thanks to a built-in caching layer, the eConnect SMP is always available, even when another provider's SMP is temporarily unreachable. Approximately 30% of all Dutch Peppol registrations are in the eConnect SMP.
Read more about Peppol in the documentation
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