Expert panel welcomes proposals on extending the billing standard and agrees common objectives
The first German-French workshop on the standardisation of e-billing under the patronage of Saarland’s Prime Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was a huge success: 30 high-profile political and business representatives from both countries talked in depth on the technical, legal and economic framework conditions and agreed on future common measures.
During the two-day meeting at eurodata’s corporate headquarters in Saarbrücken, the specialists talked to each other about their present experiences with the electronic billing standard ZUGFeRD. The meeting especially focused on the automotive sector essential for both countries. Representatives of German VDA (Verband Deutscher Automobilindustrie) and French Galia (Groupement pour l’Amélioration des Liaisons dans l’Industrie Automobile) presented examples of how e-billing can be implemented in practice.
Long-term experience with respect to an e-billing standard and specific proposals also came from eurodata CEO Uwe Richter: “We have been working with a procedure very similar to ZUGFeRD for over 10 years now. Based on this experience, we have made a proposal for the extension of the ZUGFeRD format, which we presented at the workshop.” The proposal, which was universally applauded by the experts, refers to a “custom defined field”, which would allow businesses applying the standard to integrate individual or country-specific data without affecting core functionalities.
“I am proud that the responsible persons from both the German and French national associations have so vividly contributed to this workshop”, says Stefan Engel-Flechsig from the Forum Electronic Invoicing in Germany (FeRD e.V.). “We could come to essential agreements on the further development of a common data format for electronic invoicing and will promote them further at our next workshop.” For example, the experts agreed to pursue a common method for hybrid billing, to closely coordinate this endeavour with the automotive industry and to intensify specialist exchanges between both countries’ governments.
“The idea of this meeting has proven its worth”, comments Engel-Flechsig. “Especially the direct exchange of experiences between experts from both countries is very promising. On this foundation of trust, we can collaborate effectively and work on the development and large-scale implementation of a common e-billing standard, which will benefit governments and businesses.”
The next expert workshop is already scheduled for autumn 2015.
FeRD
The “Forum elektronische Rechnung Deutschland e.V.” (FeRD) is Germany’s national platform for supporting electronic billing, representing associations, ministries and businesses. The forum was founded under the auspices of the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology’s Working Group for Economic Administration (AWV). FeRD has developed a common general format for electronic invoicing, which can be used by businesses, governmental bodies and customers to facilitate the electronic exchange of structured data between invoice issuer and receiver (the “ZUGFeRD” format). The ZUGFeRD format consists of a human-readable invoice (a regular, printable PDF document) and standardised machine-readable XML information embedded in the same PDF. This data format complies with international standards and can also be used and processed in European and worldwide international invoicing.
Get more information at: www.ferd-net.de;
Contact: Stefan Engel-Flechsig.
Phone: (+49) 228-28982-253