Since April 2024, Finland has taken a significant step towards digitalizing its trade processes by adopting Peppol Advanced Ordering on a central government level. This initiative marks an important milestone in the Real Time Economy Project of Finland and reflects a broader commitment to improving domestically and internationally e-invoicing and e-ordering practices.

Why Peppol?

In Finland, most e-invoices are exchanged in the national e-invoicing network.

“The national network is an excellent solution for domestic transactions, but it lacks international connectivity”

explaines Hannu Kivinen from the Peppol Authority of Finland.

Peppol addresses this gap by enabling seamless cross-border e-invoicing, connecting businesses across Europe and beyond. With the forthcoming EU Peppol International model, countries such as Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore can be reached from Europe, enhancing global trade opportunities.

“This level of connectivity is only possible through Peppol. While national e-invoicing network remains dominant domestically, there is no reason Peppol cannot be used for local transactions as well”

adds Hannu.

Filling the gap

The Finnish Real Time Economy Project has selected Peppol as its preferred network for e-ordering.

“The national e-invoicing network does not support e-ordering, and traditional EDI connections are impractical for smaller businesses due to their on-to-one setup”

Hannu says.

By leveraging Peppol, businesses in Finland can benefit from an established, standardized network that promotes efficiency and scalability.

“A lot of standardization work has been done in Peppol and it is only sensible for Finland to join that group instead of creating something new from scratch”

Hannu continues.

Benefits of using Peppol

With Peppol, end users can reach their business partners wether they are in Finland, the Netherlands, or Japan. Peppol represents a significant advancement in the digitalization of cross-border trade.

Other practical benefits of Peppol are the same as the benefits of e-ordering or e-invoicing:

• Automation: reduced manual work and streamlined processes
• Improved data quality: validation processes minimize errors
• Cost saving: by 2030, Finland could save and estimated €2.7 billion if e-ordering adoption reaches 48.5 %

Driving digitalization

The State Treasury of Finland is committed to promoting the digitalization of e-ordering and e-invoicing with ambitious roadmaps targeting 2030.

“By 2030, we aim to make Peppol the default network for e-ordering in Finland”

states Hannu.

The roadmaps also include legislative possibilities. For e-ordering they will explore the possibility of making the use of e-ordering mandatory for the Finnish public sector. For e-invoicing a mandatory use of EN-16931 compatible e-invoices including also B2B invoices explored.

The goal is to make B2B e-invoicing mandatory by 2028, with a transition period that ends at the end of 2029.

“However, it is important to note that these legislations are possibilities that are still being explored – the future will show what happens”

Hannu ends.

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