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Peppol network

Peppol (Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line) is an international secure network connecting accounting systems and ERPs. It lets you send and receive e-invoices, orders, and delivery notes in seconds, safely, in a structured format, and fully automated.

What Peppol is

A secure international network for exchanging e-documents.

Every e-invoice is verified and every message is digitally signed.

A tool for 100% accounting automation.

What Peppol is NOT

An email attachment sending service.

A website that only creates invoices.

A local-only project with no network interoperability.

How does the Peppol network work?(4-corner model)

Peppol uses a four-corner model where sender and receiver do not need a direct technical connection.

Certified Access Point

  1. Corner 1(Sender)

    Your system generates the invoice.

  2. Corner 2(Sender's Certified Access Point)

    The sender Access Point validates the format and sends the invoice securely.

  3. Corner 3(Receiver's Certified Access Point)

    The receiver Access Point accepts and verifies the invoice.

  4. Corner 4(Receiver)

    The invoice is automatically posted into the receiver accounting system.

How it works in practice

You click Send and the invoice appears in your customer system in seconds. No PDFs, no emails, no manual retyping.

Peppol network

Instead of building thousands of one-off integrations, everyone connects to one shared network through certified Access Points. Once connected, you can exchange documents with any other participant in the network.

Certified Access Point

A certified Access Point acts as a licensed digital operator without which you cannot connect to the Peppol network. Think of it as a secure bridge: it automatically takes the invoice from your accounting software, checks that it meets all strict international standards, securely encrypts the data, and delivers it directly to your business partner's system within a single second. You do not have to deal with complex technical protocols or encryption certificates—the entire digital process in the background is handled by this verified intermediary, completely and with full legal responsibility. A certified Access Point is your secure, official gateway to the Peppol network.

Why the network was created

The goal was simple: remove paper, remove PDF emails, and remove manual data entry. Peppol defines one common language for systems across Europe.

A shared language

For systems to understand one another, they must speak the same language. Peppol uses the structured UBL format according to the Peppol BIS Billing 3 rules. This means it does not matter whether an invoice is issued by a sole trader in Czechia or a large corporation in Germany. The receiving system knows exactly where to find the amount, due date, and company registration number, and can process the invoice without human intervention.

Network evolution

Peppol originally began in 2008 as a pilot project for business-to-government communication (B2G). The system proved so robust, secure, and efficient that it was widely adopted by the private sector as well (B2B). Today, Peppol is no longer limited to Europe—for exactly the same reasons, countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Japan have adopted it as a national standard. In short, it was created to remove unnecessary bureaucracy and tedious manual work from business transactions.

Core pillars of the Peppol network

Security

Communication is encrypted and exchanged only between verified certified Access Points.

XML format

Standardized XML formats (UBL) ensure structured, machine-readable business data.

Security and encryption

The security foundation of the entire network is the international AS4 protocol, which is used to transmit critical data across Europe. All communication between individual Access Points is securely encrypted, preventing unauthorized parties from accessing the contents of your invoices in transit. Even if someone intercepted a message directly on the internet connection, they would see only unintelligible code that cannot be deciphered without the appropriate keys.

Verified identity

Unlike ordinary email, where anyone can create a fake mailbox and impersonate your company, there is no anonymity in the Peppol network. Every participant must undergo verification by their certified provider, which means that only genuine, verified, and legally accountable entities operate within the network. This eliminates the risk of spam, phishing, or fraudulent invoices sent from nonexistent addresses.

Closed ecosystem

The Peppol network operates as a strictly controlled ecosystem overseen by the international OpenPeppol association and national coordinators. Only servers with valid certificates issued within a public key infrastructure (PKI) are allowed to access the network. This central control ensures that no unapproved server or unverified provider can participate in document exchange. For you, this means doing business in a secure environment that is resistant to attacks from the public internet.