The State Treasury is the Finnish Peppol authority
The State Treasury is an official member of the OpenPeppol Association. As a result of its membership, the State Treasury established its Peppol authority function in autumn 2022.
The State Treasury is an official member of the OpenPeppol Association. As a result of its membership, the State Treasury established its Peppol authority function in autumn 2022.
Peppol is an open network through which different parties can transmit electronic business documents to each other in a standardised, sector-independent manner. Electronic business documents include catalogues, orders and order confirmations. The Peppol network is available through a Peppol service provider. The majority of Finland’s most important trading partners are promoting the use of Peppol in their regions.
OpenPeppol AISBL is an international non-profit association registered in Belgium and under Belgian law, and it includes members from both the public and private sector. OpenPeppol is responsible for developing, maintaining and implementing the specifications, operating model and services of the Peppol network.
The Finnish Peppol authority is the State Treasury, which
The Peppol network defines the following:
Access Point: A service provider role that connects end users to the infrastructure so that they can send documents to each other.
SML (Service Metadata Locator): A central address directory of the infrastructure containing information on whether a requested address is registered in the Peppol network and which decentralised SMP has the details for that end-user.
SMP (Service Metadata Provider), currently referred to as ACL (Address and Capability Lookup): a distributed directory that contains the end-user’s capabilities, i.e. what messages the end-user can process, and their physical data connection information
If you would like to participate in the Peppol community working groups and/or the work of the monitoring group organised by the national Peppol authority, please contact: peppol@valtiokonttori.fi
The State Treasury is involved in the Real-Time Economy project, which organises webinars and training events on Peppol. Participate and stay up to date. Events arranged by the Real-Time Economy project
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 necessary for Finnish companies that wish to remain competitive in the Nordic and European marketspace.
The State Treasury and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities have carried out a cost and impact study on the use of procurement messages and e-receipts. The study was conducted as part of the Real-Time Economy project. A cost and impact calculator is being planned on the basis of the study. A link to the calculator will be added when it is completed.
The Real-Time Economy project is carrying out Proof of Concept studies with companies and service providers on the benefits of Peppol. Their results will be published as the project progresses.
The PoC Peppol procurement messages for the construction industry will be launched in January–February 2023. Read more about the project’s PoC objectives.
For more detailed instructions on joining the network, contact your Peppol service provider. See the list of all Peppol service providers.
The Peppol authority directs and supervises the service providers that operate in Finland.
The code lists used by different countries in Peppol are available here.
Finnish organisations should use an EDI code as their actual address in the Peppol network. An EDI code is formatted as 003712345678abcde, where:
Example-Enterprise Oy:
Business ID: 1234567-8
EDI code: 003712345678
Peppol address 0216: 003712345678
Example-Endeavour Oy:
Business ID: 8765432-1
EDI code: 003787654321ende4
Peppol address 0216: 003787654321ende4
Your Peppol service provider will make sure that your Peppol address is entered into the address register.
For more information on all country-specific requirements, see the Peppol website.
Peppol service providers are all parties that transmit end-user electronic documents via the Peppol network by maintaining a Peppol Access Point or a portion of the Address and Capability Lookup (ACL) register.
For questions related to becoming a Peppol service provider, you can contact the Finnish Peppol authority by email at peppol@valtiokonttori.fi.
The operation of the Peppol network is based on a 4-corner model. This means that end-users are connected to the Peppol network via their service providers, while the service providers transfer the end-users’ electronic business documents via their Access Points to the other party. Peppol’s solution uses the eDelivery network.
Service providers may only charge their own clients for transmitting documents. The traffic between service providers is free of charge.
The Peppol network’s address register is distributed between service providers. The distributed parts of the address register are referred to as ACLs, or previously as SMPs (Service Metadata Publisher). The ACL is used to maintain end-user Peppol addresses and information on their electronic document reception capability.
The OpenPeppol Association also manages a component called the SML (Service Metadata Locator), which aggregates information on which ACL register each end user’s address information is located in. These services are used by Peppol Access Points when they transmit electronic Peppol documents to the correct addresses.
Read the specification document for ACL registers
Peppol’s website includes a list of software packages that can be used to create a Peppol ACL register.
To become a Peppol service provider, you must meet the requirements set by Peppol. For this purpose, Peppol maintains a set of tests that must be passed in order to be granted an official Peppol service provider status and a production certificate issued by Peppol.
Read the instructions on passing the required tests on Peppol’s website
A Peppol service provider operating in Finland must conclude a service provider agreement with the Finnish Peppol authority, i.e. the State Treasury.
The standard agreement is available on Peppol’s Confluense page.