Germany targets countrywide Peppol adoption for public e‑invoicing

1. IT Planning Council decision on Peppol

At its 38th session, the German IT Planning Council adopted decision 2022/31, which assessed how the Peppol infrastructure is used in the German public sector and set out next steps. The decision document can be accessed here: Decision 2022/31 – Evaluation of Peppol (PDF)open_in_new.​

Under this decision, federal and state governments are asked to ensure that public sector buyers who offer a web service for e‑invoice delivery can also accept invoices via the Peppol network by 1 October 2023 at the latest. At the same time, the Council requests that the German Peppol Authority support these entities in expanding Peppol‑based e‑invoice acceptance.​

2. Current Peppol connectivity of German federal states

As of the decision date, most German federal states were already Peppol‑connected, but there were notable gaps:​

• Bavaria, Hesse and Lower Saxony were not yet connected to Peppol and were in discussions with the German Peppol Authority about connection options.​
• Other states, including Rhineland‑Palatinate and Saarland, already had a productive Peppol access point in place but had not yet started actively using it for e‑invoice acceptance.​

The German Peppol Authority is administered by KoSIT (Koordinierungsstelle für IT‑Standards), which coordinates national IT standards and supports public bodies in implementing Peppol and related e‑invoicing specifications. More information on KoSIT can be found here: KoSIT official siteopen_in_new.​

3. Impact on suppliers and public procurement

Decision 2022/31 is an important step towards a more unified digital procurement landscape in Germany, where public entities can receive e‑invoices via Peppol regardless of the state in which they are located. Once implemented, it will allow suppliers to use a single, standardised Peppol connection to send compliant e‑invoices to buyers across the entire German public sector, instead of navigating multiple parallel interfaces and channels.​

This broader adoption of Peppol supports Germany’s wider goals of e‑invoicing, interoperability and process automation in public procurement. It also aligns with European efforts to promote cross‑border e‑invoicing using open, standardised networks and formats.