The News General DM News Firm sends first electronic invoice to European Commission
26 February 2010
The first electronic invoice has been sent to the European Commission by a supplier.
On 3 February, reports the epractice.eu site, a private company was able to send an electronic invoice for a product/service supplied to the European Commission.
This was made possible through the use of the IT tool "e-Invoicing" and the "e-PRIOR eProcurement platform" developed by the Commission's Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT). The technology was developed within the framework of the eProcurement project that it has been running together with the Directorate General Internal Market and Services (DG MARKT) department.
Until now, Commission suppliers have relied on paper invoices, which has caused administrative delays in the procurement cycle. The Commission wants to speed the process and slash the amount of paper that is used.
With the new system a supplier is able to send a secure invoice and other attached documents in XML format via the internet. The invoice is received by the e-PRIOR platform, which can then deliver the invoice to "SYSLOG Invoice", the local invoice management system used by DIGIT's Unit R.2.
Financial agents are able to see the invoice as any other paper invoice that would have been scanned, and can ensure the payment far more quickly. Since it is no longer necessary to scan the invoices and to create the invoice records manually in SYSLOG Invoice, the process lessens the number of human interactions and reduces payment delays.
