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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

— 01

Foundations

— 02

Standards

— 03

Flagship messages

— 04

Tools

THE EDI KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM

EDI, made readable.

EDI — Electronic Data Interchange — is the standardized way businesses exchange orders, invoices and shipping notices, with no email and no manual re-keying. Here, every standard is documented and sourced, and the main ones come with online tools.

Understand EDI Explore the standards 
UNA:+.? '
UNB+UNOC:3+5412345000013:14+4012345000009:14+260929:1030+1'
UNG … UNE
UNZ+1+1'

UNB interchange 

UNG+ORDERS+5412345000013:14+4012345000009:14+260929:1030+1+UN+D:96A'
UNH … UNT
UNE+1+1'

UNG group 

UNH+1+ORDERS:D:96A:UN'
BGM … UNS
UNT+9+1'

UNH ORDERS message

  • BGM+220+PO4711+9'
  • DTM+137:20260929:102'
  • NAD+BY+5412345000013::9'
  • NAD+SU+4012345000009::9'
  • LIN+1++5412345000204:EN'
  • QTY+21:48'
  • UNS+S'

BGM…UNS segments

DTM+ C507 137 2005 : 20260929 2380 : 102 2379 '

C507 data elements

FIG. 1Anatomy of a UN/EDIFACT interchange: an ORDERS D.96A purchase order, from the UNB envelope down to the data elements. The group level (UNG … UNE) is optional.

The journey of an order

The ORDERS message of FIG. 1 is only the first. Follow the next ones: confirmation, despatch advice, then invoice. Who sends what, to whom, and over which channel.

  1. The buyer’s ERP sends the ORDERS purchase order (EDIFACT) to the supplier’s ERP, directly over AS2.
  2. The supplier confirms the order with an ORDRSP response over the same AS2 channel.
  3. On shipment, the supplier sends the DESADV despatch advice.
  4. The supplier issues the invoice as Factur-X and hands it to its approved platform (PA), which forwards it to the buyer’s PA; that platform delivers it to the buyer’s accounts payable, which can match it against the order and the despatch advice.
FIG. 2Order-to-cash. Order, confirmation and despatch advice go straight between ERPs (EDIFACT over AS2); in France the e-invoice travels through approved platforms (PA).

Where to start?

Three entry points, depending on what you need.

The format atlas

41 documented standards and 1,568 reference pages, sorted by family. Each mark is drawn from the syntax of the format, never from a logo.

All standards

Segment syntaxes

Segments closed by a terminator, or records cut at fixed positions.

XML, JSON and business vocabularies

Documents structured by a business vocabulary, most often in XML.

E-invoicing

The European semantic standard EN 16931, the hybrid format Factur-X and the national formats.

Transport and network

The protocols and the network that carry the messages.

E-invoicing: the deadlines

France, Belgium, Germany: three calendars. The dates come from the mandate matrix of the site; each guide details the steps and cites its sources.

Compare all countries

  1. Key date

    Belgium

    B2B in force

    B2B
    Mandatory since 1 January 2026
    B2G
    Mandatory since 1 April 2019 (federal) and 1 March 2024 (all levels)
    Read the guide — Belgium

  2. Key date

    France

    B2B in force

    B2B
    Receipt and issuance (large/intermediate) since Sept. 2026, SME issuance in Sept. 2027
    B2G
    Mandatory since 2017 via Chorus Pro
    Read the guide — France

  3. Key date

    Germany

    B2B planned

    B2B
    Receipt 2025, issuance 2027-28
    B2G
    Mandatory since November 2020
    Read the guide — Germany

Software · Validator Pro

Factur-X, XRechnung, EN 16931: the official rules, offline

Validator Pro checks your Factur-X, XRechnung, UBL and CII invoices against the official CEN and KoSIT validation artefacts. It also checks your EDI flows — in batch, from the command line, entirely on your machine.

  • Official rules: CEN EN 16931 1.3.16 (UBL and CII) and KoSIT XRechnung 3.0.2, with their original identifiers and messages.
  • 100% offline: no invoice leaves your machine; network access is disabled in the engine.
  • Batch: whole folders, JSON or CSV reports, exit codes for continuous integration.
  • Windows: standalone executable, nothing to install. Linux and macOS are not tested yet.
Discover Validator Pro
  1. Your files Factur-XXRechnungUBLCII
  2. Official rules CEN EN 16931 1.3.16KoSIT XRechnung 3.0.2
  3. Report [OK] [INVALID] 
$ ediverse-validator validate facture-2026-0187.xml facture-2026-0188.xml
[INVALID] facture-2026-0187.xml  (cii, 605 ms)
    ERROR [BR-02] @ /CrossIndustryInvoice: An Invoice shall have an Invoice number (BT-1).
    ERROR [BR-04] @ /CrossIndustryInvoice: An Invoice shall have an Invoice type code (BT-3).
    ERROR [BR-06] @ /CrossIndustryInvoice: An Invoice shall contain the Seller name (BT-27).
    […] lines omitted
[OK     ] facture-2026-0188.xml  (ubl, 639 ms)

2 file(s): 1 ok, 1 invalid, 0 skipped, 0 failed
FIG. 3Real output of the tool, in free mode, on two invoices (excerpt).

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