The parties to the Peppol Network are:

• • National Peppol Authorities

The Finnish Peppol Authority is the State Treasury, which promotes the use of the Peppol network in Finland. The Peppol Authority supports and supervises Peppol Service Providers, monitors the development of national legislation, coordinates training opportunities, and enhances Peppol-related competence. The Peppol Authority also participates in and influences the development of the international Peppol Network. The development work is carried out openly and in close collaboration with the network’s stakeholders.

For a summary of each national Peppol Authority, visit this link.

• • Certified Peppol Service Providers

The core task of Peppol Service Providers is to operate as Access Points between the Peppol Network and its end users. Peppol Service Providers can also maintain part of the Peppol Address and Capability Lookup (ACL) service. An end user can join the Peppol Network through a Peppol Service Provider. The Service Provider transmits the end user’s electronic business documents, ensures that the end user’s Peppol address is entered in the address book, and is responsible for providing support.

For a list of certified Peppol Service Providers, visit this link. The country of a Peppol Service Provider refers to the country in which it primarily operates. However, the use of the network does not depend on the Service Provider’s country.

• • End users who wish to influence Peppol’s development.

The term ‘end user’ refers to an organisation that sends and receives electronic business documents, such as orders or invoices. Peppol Service Providers transmit electronic business documents between end users. End users do not need to join OpenPeppol in order to send or receive Peppol-compliant documents. An end user can join OpenPeppol if they wish to influence the development of the Peppol Network.

A party wishing to join the network must join the OpenPeppol Association. OpenPeppol AISBL is an international, not-for-profit association registered in Belgium with members from both the public and private sector. The OpenPeppol Association is responsible for developing, maintaining, and implementing the specifications, operating model, and services of the Peppol Network. OpenPeppol’s website is available here.

The Peppol network helps all companies get a stake in the benefits of using electronic business documents

For decades, companies have used various sector and company-specific solutions to send electronic documents. For example, retailers, industrial companies and importers have used procurement messages with their suppliers. However, the exchange of these electronic documents has been based on bilateral connections, the construction of which is laborious and cost-inefficient for many organisations.

In Peppol, the exchange of information is based on a network-like model. This means that an organisation can use one connection to communicate with every other organisation in the same Peppol network. This model enables the cost-effective deployment of electronic documents across the entire business and public sector. The digitalisation of business documents is a must for Finnish companies that wish to remain competitive in the Nordic and European marketspace.

Electronic business documents provide numerous benefits

• Avoid additional costs
  When you use electronic business documents, your exchanges of information will be handled by information systems. When you use Peppol business documents, your Peppol Service Provider connects you to all members of the Peppol network through a single connection. In the Peppol network, the exchange and processing of documents has been specified in advance, so you do not need to separately agree on any operating methods with your partners.

• Avoid human errors
  The documents transmitted in the Peppol network are checked for errors before they are sent. You can be sure that the documents you send and receive, such as your invoices and orders, will not contain any human errors in e.g. their totals, which makes it easier to process them automatically.

• Compatible processes
  The Peppol network focuses on processes, such as ordering or invoicing, instead of individual documents. By using Peppol documents, you can be sure that your documents are compatible with one another, from procurement to payment and at every stage of the process. In the best case scenario, you will avoid having to re-enter any existing data.

• Security
  Data transfers between Peppol Service Providers are encrypted using a secure protocol (AS4). All Service Providers are certified and identified using PKI Certificates. In addition, each Service Provider must adhere to uniform service level requirements to ensure that the network is available and business partners can be reached without delays. The Peppol Authority supervises the Service Providers in its territory. The State Treasury is the Finnish Peppol Authority.

• Internationality
  The Peppol network includes Service Providers and users in more than 40 countries and is constantly expanding. Currently, the network’s coverage is the best in the EU, but new countries from e.g. the Asian and American continents have also joined the network. The majority of Finland’s most important trading partners are promoting the use of Peppol in their national territories.

• Changing Service Providers is easy
  As an end user, you can change your Peppol Service Provider while maintaining the same Peppol address. These changes are handled by the network’s Service Providers.

Peppol is designed for companies and organisations of all shapes and sizes. If your company wishes to begin using Peppol, you can contact your system vendor or Peppol Service Provider.

To begin using Peppol at your company, you must have:

• a service or system that can process Peppol-compliant electronic documents.
• • Such systems include invoicing, order management, and ERP systems, as well as other similar web services. Many systems already support the processing of Peppol documents.
  • Different organisations make use of different electronic documents (e.g. catalogues, orders, shipping notices, invoices, etc.). As a result, some information systems may not support every type of Peppol document, and each organisation must think carefully about the information they need to transmit to their trading partners, as well as the types of Peppol documents their partners can send and receive as well. Both parties must be able to process Peppol documents in their respective information systems. Read more about different Peppol documents, i.e. messages.
  • For a list of end-user Peppol addresses, i.e. Peppol IDs, and their Peppol capabilities, you can visit either the verkkolaskuosoite.fi service or the Peppol Directory. Please note that end users are not required to publish their information on these services, which means that these lists are not comprehensive.

• • The State Treasury grants state aid to Service Providers and system vendors for the deployment costs of Peppol application services. Entrepreneurs, remember to inform your service providers or system vendors about the aid that is available! Read more about the aid programme (page available in Finnish) >

• a connection to the Peppol Network through a Peppol Service Provider.
  • You can join the Peppol Network with the help of a Peppol Service Provider. For a list of Peppol Service Providers, visit this link. The list includes Service Providers from around the world, as Peppol is an international network, However, the use of the network does not depend on the Service Provider’s country.

• • Most Finnish e-invoicing operators are also Peppol Service Providers, so you can ask your existing operator about joining Peppol.

Still confused? Think of it this way: The Peppol Network’s operating model is similar to using a phone: to make and receive calls, you need a phone (in Peppol, a system or service) and a subscription with an operator (in Peppol, a Peppol Service Provider). However, instead of calls, your Peppol Service Provider forwards the electronic documents created in your system to any recipient in the world, from Finland to Australia.

The Peppol Authority’s monitoring group meets every month to discuss topical issues. The monitoring group is open to everyone. If you would like to join us, just send an email to: peppol@valtiokonttori.fi.

The Nordic Peppol Authorities facilitate the Nordic Peppol Construction Industry Forum. If you would like to learn more and join the forum, visit this link.