B2G e-Invoicing Denmark has been mandatory since 2005. It started with UBL. However, according to the Consolidated Law on Public Payments, it is stated that people over the age of 18 and public administrations are required to open a bank account (Nemkonto). Details of public payments to be made by natural and legal persons are included in the mentioned law. The government has stipulated the OIOUBL standard for eInvoicing in public procurement. This standard is provided and maintained by the Danish Business Authority (Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs). Danish legislation also requires public institutions to use the OIO Reliable Asynchronous Secure Profile (OIORASP), which enables eInvoice transactions to be exchanged over the internet with a high degree of security.
NemHandel, eInvoice platform and eInvoice management solutions
NemHandel is an eInvoice infrastructure developed for the public and released in 2007, which enables companies to send e-invoices securely over the internet. It bases on open-source components such as NemHandel, UBL, RASP and UDDI. eInvoices that comply with the OIOUBL standard and use the web services specified in OIORASP transmit via NemHandel. Nemhandel is an open network with document standards that make it easy, secure and efficient for companies to e-shop with the public sector and each other. A common standard for e-commerce is both easy and more efficient as it allows all systems to communicate with each other, regardless of the purchasing system or IT service provider. Finally, the integration of Nemhandel and Peppol considers. In this way, it will be possible to run the two systems in parallel. Thus, OIOUBL may be phased out in Nemhandel in the long run.
eInvoice receiving and processing approach
The government mandates the use of the European standard on eInvoicing (UBL), the transmission of eInvoices compatible with OIORASP via web services, and the use of NemHandel. Only eInvoice recipients must be registered with NemHandelRegistry (NHR). Therefore, it must have an eInvoice recipient number (GLN/EAN number). All government entities have at least one eInvoice recipient number that is publicly available on the organization’s website.
Economic operators can send e-Invoices using three main tools:
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions (software or web-based) with fully integrated eInvoice;
ERP solutions with open-source software provided by Danish Operating Authority, NemHandel message handler client;
Manually created in web-based billing portals (webform),
Government agencies can set up their access points and eInvoice solutions that connect to the common public service-oriented infrastructure (OIORASP). On the other hand, it can contract with a Value-Added Network Services (VANS) network provider. VANS are communication networks for the exchange of electronic documents such as eInvoices. A VANS network must have an agreement with other network providers to exchange data based on the eInvoice recipient number.
In general, the Danish system is similar to Peppol. In a four-corner model, the technical infrastructure agreements that solution providers will sign are based on the same open standards and the same architectural principles. Danish economic operators using the NemHandel network can reach users in the Peppol network. Ultimately, Denmark supports Peppol BIS 3.0 eInvoices.
In addition, the Danish Business Authority provides IT vendors with guidelines, validation tools, presentation style sheets and open-source components to facilitate eInvoice implementation. It is the responsibility of the practitioners to comply with the standards and develop software solutions for the needs of different users in the market.
eInvoice application at sub-central level contracting authorities
The current e-Invoicing model is based on Peppol and OpenPeppol to receive eInvoices from non-local suppliers. The European standard is partially implemented and co-exists with OIOUBL. Denmark uses a CIUS transmitted via Peppol.
The Situation regarding the implementation of the European eInvoicing Standard (EN)
The Danish Business Authority is in dialogue with economic operators and eInvoice solutions providers to ensure they comply with European norms when they are ready. They do this either by conforming to the European standard on conversion services or eInvoicing. However, Denmark has also implemented e-Invoicing at the level of sub-central organisations.