Glossary

CEF e-Delivery

is an EU building block that provides technical specifications and standards, installable software and ancillary services to allow projects to create a network of nodes for secure digital data exchange. By building with eDelivery, public and private organisations from different sectors can easily create a safe and interoperable channel to transfer documents and data among each other over a public or private network. CEF is the Connecting Europe Facility.

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CEN

is the European Committee for Standardization, an association that brings together the National Standardization Bodies of 33 European countries. CEN is one of three European Standardization Organizations (together with CENELEC and ETSI) that have been officially recognized by the European Union and by the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) as being responsible for developing and defining voluntary standards at European level.

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CEN BII

CEN BII standardises e-Procurement processes, documents and content, supporting EU-wide interoperability, and covering the full procurement cycle, from notification in the pre-award phase, to payment in the post-award phase. CEN BII defined a minimum set of core information elements of the documents and business processes involved in electronic public procurement. These are published as a set of technical specifications, called CEN BII profiles, and documented as CEN Workshop Agreements. CEN BII also provided mappings to two syntaxes from OASIS UBL and UN/CEFACT. These are published as Implementation guidelines. CEN BII has been implemented in PEPPOL.

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CEN TC/434

was launched in September 2014 as a project and then a technical committee operating within CEN governance, with responsibility for developing standards in support of European e-invoicing based on a semantic model for the core information elements of an electronic invoice, syntax selection and bindings, and other related deliverables.

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CEN TC/440

was launched in 2016 operating as a technical committee within CEN governance and responsible for developing standards in support of electronic public procurement including both pre-award and post-award processes covering: e-notification, secure submission of tenders and/or catalogues, e-evaluation, e-awarding, e-contracting, e-sourcing, e-ordering, and e-fulfilment. Attention will be given to the establishment of a semantic data model and at least one syntax data binding for the application of XML in both pre-award and post-award.

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Certification (Certificate) Authority

a certificate authority or certification authority (CA) or Certificate Service Provider is an entity that issues digital certificates. A digital certificate certifies the ownership of a public key by the named subject of the certificate. This allows others (relying parties) to rely upon signatures or on assertions made about the private key that corresponds to the certified public key. In this model of trust relationships, a CA is a trusted third party- trusted both by the subject (owner) of the certificate and by the party relying upon the certificate. In the EU a certification Authority is likely to be a Qualified Trust Service Provider under the e-IDAS Regulation.

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Chorus

is a Portal for the submission of e-invoices to the French State and public sector organizations.

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Clearance Model

There are currently two types of regime for electronic invoicing compliance reporting. The ‘post audit’ approach translates requirements from paper-based invoicing to electronic flows, allowing the free exchange of invoices between trading partners but requiring them to prove the veracity of archived invoices for up to a decade later by means of an accessible archive and periodic reporting. In countries that have chosen the ‘clearance model’, the tax administration requires each invoice to be reported and authorized electronically by them before or during the exchange process. These two systems have some common features such as requirements for invoice integrity, authenticity and archiving, but there are also many requirements that are specific to each category, as well as many country-specific requirements.

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Cloud Computing

the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data and provide services of all kinds, rather than using software installed on a local server or a personal computer.

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Code List

A code list is a predefined list from which some statistical coded concepts take their values. Each code list has the following properties: a) identifier (it provides a unique identification within the set of code lists specified by a structural definitions maintenance agency); b) name (also unique); c) description (a description of the purpose of the code list); and d) code value length (either an exact or a maximum number of characters and a type, i.e. numeric or alphanumeric). Code Lists are used in e-invoice data format standards to represent countries, currencies, units of measure etc.

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Commercial Invoice

is one of the main types of invoice issued by commercial enterprises and will relate to transactions for the provision of goods and services between buyers and sellers and where shipment has occurred. It is an important document in both domestic and international trade, where it also has a role in customs procedures. It could be different from the tax invoice.

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Compliance

The term ‘compliance’ is used in many ways in business practice, for example ‘compliance’ may refer to complying with law, or complying with established business rules or contractual conditions. In the context of e-invoicing, the latter form of compliance includes the conformance by senders of invoices with rules and requirements set by buyers, such as correct buyer references and the correct use of information elements. As to legally compliant e-invoicing, many types of law apply to invoicing processes (and require compliance), but the principal legal requirements stem from indirect tax law (especially VAT), and may include real-time reporting requirements under ‘clearance’ models. In the relationship between a service provider and its customer, compliance may be ruled out of scope and the responsibility retained by the taxpayer itself, or the service provider may support compliance with a range of value-added services.

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Compliance Definition

requirements for legally compliant e-Invoices issued by GENA to its Members and all interested parties.

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Compliance Definition 01: Applicable VAT law

are VAT requirements for correctly selecting the jurisdiction(s) which will govern the main aspects of e-invoice compliance.

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Compliance Definition 02: VAT Rate Selection

are requirements for noting and applying the correct VAT, withholding, luxury or other applicable indirect tax rate for a supply in an invoice, where necessary accompanied by the correct mandatory reference to the article in applicable law that is applied to arrive at this rate.

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Compliance Definition 03: VAT Minimum Invoice Content

are VAT requirements for the information that must be contained within an invoice. (Article 226 of the VAT Directive [2006. 112. EC]).

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Compliance Definition 04: Non-VAT Content Requirements

are legal requirements arising from commercial or procurement law or other legal instruments regulating the content of certain commercial documents such as invoices; this specifically includes the need for e.g. references to office holders, legal addresses, paid-up share capital, relevant purchase order, invoicing address, tender contract, identification of the purchasing entity , etc.

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Compliance Definition 05: Computational Integrity

are both the requirement for accuracy in the process of mathematical calculation, and any relevant national or local rules applied to processes such as rounding rules, as well as correct conversion of the relevant units of measurements.

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Compliance Definition 06: E-Invoicing Notification or Prior Approval

are VAT requirements concerning the notification of or request for prior approval for using invoices in electronic format to a competent tax administration.

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Compliance Definition 07: Invoice File Format

are requirements for the technical file format (syntax) of the fiscally valid invoice that is exchanged between the trading partners, or the invoice data to be communicated to the tax administration for invoice clearance, reporting or on-request reporting purposes.

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Compliance Definition 08: Paper Invoice Dematerialisation

are VAT requirements for the correct transformation of a paper invoice into an electronic invoice.

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Compliance Definition 09: Electronic Invoice Exchange

are requirements for the correct technical and IT security exchange or receipt of e-invoices between trading partners or their service providers, including putting in place the necessary agreements, where required.

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Compliance Definition 10: Integrity and Authenticity

are VAT requirements for ensuring and being able to demonstrate integrity of the invoice data and authenticity of the origin of an electronic invoice.

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Compliance Definition 11: Legibility

are VAT requirements for an electronic invoice to be capable of being rendered human-readable during its legal lifetime in case of tax administration audit.

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Compliance Definition 12: Archiving

are VAT requirements for the storage of electronic invoices and any associated evidence, including requirements for the format of the stored invoice, the components to be stored, duration of storage, security measures to be upheld during storage, as well as access and audit requirements.

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Compliance Definition 13: Storage

are VAT requirements to notify a competent tax administration of e-invoices being physically stored in another country from the country whose VAT law applies to the storage of that invoice and taxpayer.

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Compliance Definition 14: Buyer Consent Requirements

are VAT requirements for obtaining the buyer’s (express or implied) agreement to receive invoices in electronic format, where required.

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Compliance Definition 15: Mandatory Interchange Agreement

are VAT requirements for the execution and maintenance of an electronic data interchange agreement between the supplier and the buyer, in accordance with relevant regulatory provisions. It is important to note that this definition addresses electronic data interchange in a technology-neutral sense; however, applicable law may introduce elements of technology specificity.

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Compliance Definition 16: Third Party Issuance

are VAT requirements for the supplier’s authorization to, and where applicable the acceptance thereof by, a third party such as its service provider to issue fiscally valid electronic invoices under agreed powers, terms and conditions as expressed in a contractual agreement.

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Compliance Definition 17: Third Party Receipt and Validation Agreement

are VAT requirements for the buyer’s authorization to, and where applicable the acceptance thereof by, a third party such as its service provider to receive and ensure indirect tax compliance (e.g. minimum content; transmitting to a tax administration platform for buy-side ‘clearance’ validation; verifying an electronic signature etc) of an invoice in the buyer’s name or on the buyer’s behalf.

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Compliance Definition 18: Invoice Clearance

are VAT requirements for trading partners at various stages of an invoicing transaction to communicate the invoice, in whole or as a subset or a reference to the invoice, to a service hosted by or on behalf of a tax administration, and to receive a pre-defined approval or confirmation message from that service as a precondition for the compliant issuing, cancellation, correction, receipt or processing of an electronic invoice.

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Compliance Definition 19: Real-Time Reporting

are VAT requirements for the supplier, the buyer or both trading partners to communicate the invoice, in whole or as a subset or a reference to the invoice, to a tax administration-designated hosted service without any response from such service being a precondition for further invoice process steps.

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Compliance Definition 20: Real-Time Authentication

are VAT requirements for the use of clearance or real-time reporting service access credentials and/or the application or validation of an electronic or digital signature to an electronic invoice or associated message as part of a real-time clearance or reporting process.

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Compliance Definition 21: On-Request E-Audit

are VAT requirements for a taxable person to be able to extract and present electronic invoices in a predefined format upon the explicit request of a competent tax administration.

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Compliance Definition 22: On-Request Reporting

are VAT requirements for the reporting or declaration of VAT on an aggregated and/or detailed level on ad hoc basis upon the explicit request of a competent tax administration.

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Compliance Definition 23: Periodic Reporting

are VAT requirements for the reporting or declaration of VAT on an aggregated and/or detailed level on a monthly or other periodic basis.

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Compliance Definition 24: Data Privacy

e.g. the GDPR requirements to ensure correct and secure processing of personal and sensitive data by (i) the contracted service provider and (ii) the receiving party (either the buyer or the buyer’s service provider and (iii) a tax administration-designated hosted service.

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Connecting Europe Facility

the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) supports initiatives in the sectors of transport, telecommunications and energy. The telecommunications part of CEF is dedicated to Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) delivering networked cross-border services for citizens, businesses and public administrations and for broadband networks. Within this, CEF e-invoicing provides funding, tools and capabilities to support the roll-out of e-invoicing to public administrations.

CEF is to be absorbed into the Digital Europe Programme (DEP).

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ConnectONCE

is the Open Network for Commerce Exchange (USA), a collaborative forum for B2B e-Commerce.

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Contract Reference

is a reference in an invoice to a pre-existing contract between buyer and seller to identify the context for the supply of goods and services covered by an invoice.

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Contracting Authority or Entity

is an organization forming part of the public sector carrying out public procurement activities.

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Core Elements of an Electronic Invoice

in the semantic model for the European Norm 16931, these are the component terms and meanings of a core invoice issued in compliance with the European Norm.

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Core Invoice Usage Specification (CIUS)

is a specification that provides a seller with detailed guidance, explanations and examples, as well as business rules related to the actual implementation and use (or restriction of use) of structured information elements present in the core invoice model in a specific trading situation. An instance document created following a given CIUS shall always be compliant with the European Norm (EN16931).

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Credit Institution or Bank

Any institution that is either (i) a business that receives deposits or other repayable funds from the public and grants credit for its own account, or (ii) a business or any other legal person, other than those under (i), which issues means of payment in the form of electronic money.

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Credit Note

a credit note is a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer following the creation of the invoice in circumstances where there is a mistake or fault in goods and service delivered by the seller or where contract terms permit a refund, in effect requiring a corrective invoice The seller usually issues a credit note for the same for a lower amount than the invoice, and then repays the money to the buyer or sets it off against a balance due from other transactions.

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Credit Transfer

is a means of payment whereby a single or a bulk payment is made electronically from one bank or payment account to another bank or payment account at the initiation of the payer.

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CSV

a file format based on comma-separated values.

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CTC (Continuous Transaction Controls)

A form of transaction-based reporting or clearance either based on the actual invoice or on a subset of the invoice. Governments have increasingly implemented cloud-managed services to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of public services. CTCs enable law enforcement agencies, like tax administrations, to collect data associated with business activities that are relevant to the exercise of their function. This data is obtained directly from business data management systems, in real-time or near-real-time.

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Customer or Client

the buyer or receiver of goods and services from a seller for whom such a party is their customer or client.

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cXML

stands for commerce extensible mark-up language and is a protocol, created by Ariba in 1999, intended for communication of business documents between procurement applications, e-commerce hubs and suppliers.

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