ePodatelna — mandatory B2G inbox since 2009

The ePodatelna (electronic receiving inbox) is the mandatory B2G channel for every Czech public administration since 1 July 2009. Rooted in Act No. 300/2008 Coll. on electronic acts, it accepts both the national ISDOC format and signed PDF/A-3 for supplier invoices. Articulated with Datová schránka (DSZ) for legal acts, it constitutes the backbone of Czech e-Government.

History — from Act 300/2008 to 2026 practice

ePodatelna emerged from the convergence of two laws: the e-signature Act No. 227/2000 Coll. (2000), and Act No. 300/2008 Coll. on electronic acts and authorised conversion. The latter created in 2008 two distinct objects: Datová schránka (DSZ) for legal acts, and ePodatelna for general reception of any electronic document (including supplier invoices).

The obligation entered force on 1 July 2009. Every Czech public administration must publish its ePodatelna address, the schedule of receipt acknowledgements, and the list of accepted formats. The Czech Republic was thus one of the earliest EU countries to mandate a universal B2G electronic gateway — 5 years before Directive 2014/55/EU on B2G e-invoicing.

text epodatelna-timeline.txt

2004       | Act No. 227/2000 Coll. — qualified e-signature recognised,
           | the legal foundations of ePodatelna.
           |
2008       | Adoption of Act No. 300/2008 Coll. on electronic acts and
           | authorised conversion — ePodatelna and Datová schránka
           | mandated for every administration.
           |
2009       | 1 July: entry into force of the obligation for any public
           | administration to open and maintain a functional ePodatelna
           | inbox 24/7.
           |
2010       | Decree 191/2009 Coll. — technical decree specifying
           | accepted formats (PDF, PDF/A, ISDOC, XML, ODT, DOCX).
           |
2013       | Czech POINT + Prague GovCloud — ePodatelna integrated
           | into the Czech e-Gov ecosystem.
           |
2017       | eIDAS Regulation 910/2014 transposed in Act No. 297/2016 Coll.
           | on trust services — EU alignment.
           |
2023       | NÚKIB (National Cyber and Information Security Agency)
           | tightens cyber requirements on ePodatelna inboxes:
           | TLS 1.3, encrypted archiving, access logs.
           |
2024-2026  | ePodatelna remains the primary B2G channel. ISDOC and
           | PEPPOL BIS are both accepted on virtually every inbox.

Governance — MV ČR + NÚKIB + MF ČR

Three ministries / agencies intervene:

MV ČR (Ministry of Interior) — sponsors Act 300/2008 Coll., publishes e-Gov standards and the official list of ePodatelna inboxes via Portal.gov.cz.
NÚKIB (National Cyber and Information Security Agency) — issues technical security requirements (Decree 82/2018 Coll., then 304/2018 Coll.): TLS 1.3, encrypted archiving, access logs.
MF ČR (Ministry of Finance) + GFŘ (General Financial Directorate) — recommend B2G invoicing formats (ISDOC, PEPPOL BIS) and publish sectoral CIUS.

Technical schema — accepted formats

Decree No. 191/2009 Coll. lists the standard formats accepted by any ePodatelna. For B2G invoices, the Ministry of Finance recommends two main formats:

ISDOC 5.2 (pure XML) — national format, automated processing on the administration side, direct accounting integration.
PDF/A-3 + embedded ISDOC — human + machine readable mixed file, functional equivalent of French Factur-X. Preferred for mixed ERP/paper flows.
Qualified signed PDF — accepted by administrations that have not (yet) tooled ISDOC processing, generally smaller municipalities and courts.
ZFO (Zaručený formát obsahu) — internal e-Gov format, mostly for legal acts issued via Datová schránka.

text epodatelna-praha-config.txt

# ePodatelna — example accepting configuration
# B2G profile of a municipal administration (Magistrát hl. m. Prahy)

URL      : podatelna.praha.eu
Address  : posta@praha.eu
Datová schránka : 48ia97h
TLS      : 1.3 mandatory (NÚKIB v6.4)
Accepted formats:
  - PDF (qualified signed, max 60 MB)
  - PDF/A-3 + embedded ISDOC (B2G invoicing target)
  - ISDOC 5.2 (pure XML, isdoc.cz schema)
  - ZFO (Zaručený formát obsahu — internal e-Gov format)
  - Generic XML (Decree 191/2009 Coll.)
  - ODT, DOCX, RTF (20 MB limit)

Signature: eIDAS QES (I.CA, Sigsa, eIdentity.cz, PostSignum)
Timestamp: RFC 3161 by MV ČR recognised authority
Reply    : automated receipt (zpráva o doručení)
           within 24 business hours, ZFO or PDF/A format
SLA      : 99.5% availability — set by Decree 304/2018 Coll.

ePodatelna vs Datová schránka

Dimension	ePodatelna	Datová schránka
Legal basis	Act 300/2008 Coll. + Decree 191/2009 Coll.	Act 300/2008 Coll. + Decree 194/2009 Coll.
Primary use	General correspondence, B2G invoices	Enforceable legal acts
Address	Common email address	7-char DSZ identifier (e.g. 48ia97h)
Probative value	Equivalent to plain letter	Equivalent to registered mail
Receipt presumption window	Receipt acknowledged by administration	10 days post-deposit = irrebuttable presumption
Mandatory for entrepreneurs	No (free use)	Yes since 1 January 2023
B2G invoicing format	ISDOC + PDF/A-3	ISDOC + PDF/A-3 + ZFO

Adoption — ~14,000 inboxes open

Ministries (14) — every ministry has its public ePodatelna on mvcr.cz portal. ISDOC + PDF/A-3 format.
Regions (14 kraje) — Praha, Středočeský, Jihočeský, Plzeňský, Karlovarský, Ústecký, Liberecký, Královéhradecký, Pardubický, Vysočina, Jihomoravský, Olomoucký, Zlínský, Moravskoslezský. All have ePodatelna + DSZ.
Extended-powers municipalities (~205) — all equipped.
Ordinary municipalities (~6,250) — heterogeneous equipment but ePodatelna inbox mandatory. Small villages often use services hosted by their region.
Courts + ÚOOÚ + NÚKIB + Senate + Parliament — independent institutions, each with its own inbox.

Common pitfalls

Sending an invoice to the wrong inbox. Always check on Portal.gov.cz the ePodatelna address of the target administration. Many administrations have a posta@ inbox and a specific faktury@ or epodatelna@ address.
Confusing ePodatelna and Datová schránka. An invoice sent to DSZ is not guaranteed to be processed by the accounting chain — DSZ is a legal channel, not an invoicing channel.
Non-qualified e-signature. Every attachment must be signed by an eIDAS-recognised authority (I.CA, Sigsa, eIdentity.cz, PostSignum). Self-signed signatures are rejected.
Non-PDF/A PDF. Stricter inboxes reject PDFs that do not conform to PDF/A — Czech legal archiving requires it (NÚKIB Decree 82/2018 Coll.).
Forgetting the contract number (číslo zakázky). For non-framework B2G flows, the invoice must cite the matching public procurement number. Otherwise the procurement office rejects it at routing.

Foundations

Standards

Flagship messages

Tools