What is known about implementation of the new directive in national legislation? Directive 2001/115/EC

Transcription

1 What is known about implementation of the new directive in national legislation? Directive 2001/115/EC Stefan Engel-Flechsig Radicchio Ltd. CEN/ISSS einvoicing Focus Group Stockholm

2 OVERVIEW! Some Legal Issues! Council Directive 2001/115/EC! The e-invoices Focus Group Work! Structure and content of the Final Report! Challenges and issues! General Conclusions! Main Recommendations! Roadmap & Next steps! Q & A 2

3 Legal Issues! Handwritten signatures needed! Governing legislation if cross border! Enforcement/audit by tax administrations! Storage of invoices (format, data, place, period)! Best practices of industries accepted (self billing)! EDI/electronic signatures! Evidential admissibility in court 3

4 EU DIRECTIVE ON INVOICES! Council Directive 2001/115/EC on the simplification, modernisation and harmonisation of the conditions laid down for invoicing in respect of VAT.! 1st Commission proposal 17th November 2000; TAXUD responsible! 13th June 2001: European Parliament! 20th December 2001: Council agreement! OJ L 15/24 17 January

5 EU DIRECTIVE ON INVOICES 5! Council Directive 2001/115/EC on the simplification, modernisation and harmonisation of the conditions laid down for invoicing in respect of VAT.! Invoice : Paper based Electronic format! Right to deduct Value Added Tax! Current legislation dated back to the 60s, where the environment was paper-based.! Today: new technologies, more cross border commerce, arrangement for e-invoicing was therefore needed.! Transposition in national legislation until 1/2004

6 EU DIRECTIVE 2001/115/EC! e-invoicing permitted, Art. 2 (c)! Minimum of data required (...no signature required, Art. 2 (b))! Authenticity of origin and integrity of the data must be ensured! Three options possible: EDI Advanced electronic signature with or without links to qualified certificates Other systems (not defined but these must also ensure authenticity and integrity)! The legislation will also be required to be followed by the new candidate countries for accession. 6

7 The e-invoices Focus Group! The Commission has requested CEN/ISSS to provide an overview of the standardization aspects of electronic invoicing.! The e-invoicing Focus Group has been formed to prepare an overview report on standardization issues related to electronic invoicing, in connection with Council Directive 2001/115/EC. 7

8 TERMS OF REFERENCE! Assessment of existing standards and proposals for additional activities - should these be necessary.! Standardized framework in this field should ensure authentication and integrity requirements, in a cost-effective manner, whilst maintaining an adequate level of interoperability and functionality.! Particular attention shall be paid to electronic signature and EDI standardisation issues, as well as to those posed by technology advances, for example in the context of web services and advanced electronic signatures. 8

9 OBJECTIVES e-invoices Focus Group! Overview on standards from formal bodies and industry consortia relevant to electronic invoicing;! Examine whether these are sufficient to enable the use of electronic invoices under the terms permitted by the Directive;! Make specific recommendations concerning any amendments to existing standards, or any additional standardization activity that may be needed in order to enable business to use electronic invoices effectively, and where this should be carried out;! Legal considerations in member states;! Prepare a draft report to be discussed in an open meeting;! Finalise and publish the report, taking due account of open meeting. 9

10 MEETINGS & ROADMAP! Kick-off! , , ! Open Conference! Input and Changes until 20th June! Final Draft Report: 30th June 2003! Presented to 33 Tax Authorities July 1st, Sweden 10

11 REPORT STRUCTURE! 1. Executive Summary! 2. Introduction (Mandate of the e-invoices Focus Group)! 3. Overview of the current situation! VAT Directive, paper and electronic invoices! Electronic Data Interchange EDI! Electronic signatures! Status of implementation of VAT Directive! 4. Analysis of specific issues! Use cases! Conversion of formats! Electronic storage! Common arrangements! Self-billing! 5. Best practices:! Finland and Belgium! Fiscal control and invoice handling! 6. Summary recommendations! 7. Annexes (VAT Directive, Glossary, References, Presentations to the Group) 11

12 MAIN RESULTS VERTICALS: HORIZONTALS:! Country-by-country report! Status of implementation of VAT Directive 2001! Cross border e-invoicing! Formats accepted! Business practice (marketplace vs. single relationship)! EDI! Electronic Signatures! Specific issues! Fiscal issues! Best practices cross-border 12

13 STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION! Already implemented: Ireland, Austria, France, (Germany)! Wanted to implement before but not later than 1st January 2004 Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, Sweden, (Germany)! To be implemented before 1st January Luxemburg, Italy, Portugal 13

14 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS! Although many pieces of standards are available:! E-invoicing works in single European countries and in single European industry networks (e.g. EDI automotive, in transport)! E-invoicing in different national and single industry environments works along different rules! Cross-border transmission will be difficult, esp. smaller enterprises! General lack of cross-border best practices or models! Risk of fragmentation (legal, technical, control) will prohibit e-invoicing! Group should look into cross border best practices for e- invoicing 14

15 DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS EDI and e-business standards! The term EDI in the Directive 2001/115/EC should have the widest possible meaning of formatted exchanges, not dependent on a specific Technology (EDIFACT, X-12, XML, etc..), nor limited to specific international, national or sector standards.! To bring Commission Recommendation 1994/820/EC October 1994 up to date with requirements of Directive 2001/115/EC and present day e-commerce practices! The invoice content details identified in the Directive should be submitted for the creation of the relevant UN/CEFACT ebxml Core Components! To permit the use of internationally recognised organization identifiers and product identifiers in electronic invoices as alternatives to the name and address of an organization or the description of a product or service! To develop codes, standardised at community level, to replace standard clauses (text) being inserted in messages, that usually require human intervention for processing 15

16 DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS Electronic signature! Care should be taken not to inadvertently restrict the use of advanced electronic signatures ( AES ) to natural persons to achieve authenticity and integrity of the electronic invoices as it may render current practice with automatic generation of invoices impracticable/illegal! In cases where communications are channelled through an intermediary service provider (e.g. in the context of a marketplace or a hub), and AES are used, there may be a need for re-signing (or re- stamping ) the invoice between parties. This should be taken into account so that, if AES are to be considered, the law allows the use of re-signed AES! It must be indicated, that additional work needs to be carried out to further detail the standardisation objectives of authentication for the purpose of using them in electronic invoicing. This recommendation assumes that the current review of the electronic signature Directive will not result in any major changes. The detailed proposals for standardization should therefore take full account of the findings of the review. 16

17 DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS Specific and fiscal procedures! In view of multinational companies having central computer operation, possibly outside the EU, e-ifg recommends that provisions be introduced to allow electronic storage of invoices in non Member State provided the required conditions for inspection and data protection are met.! Explore the possibility for remote access to audit of traders' computerised tax records and/or downloading transaction files from traders onto tax administration systems will disturb traders far less and allow administrators to work freely! In furtherance of the objective of the EC Directive on Invoicing to establish a number of common arrangements governing the use of electronic invoicing, it is recommended that the competent authorities in all EU Member States should consider further opportunities for implementing the Directive in a compatible way, in particular, for cross-border electronic invoicing. 17

18 DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS Best practices! The Austrian, Belgian, Finnish and Norwegian examples of an integrated solution are presented in some details as the e-ifg group feels they could be used as model implementations for existing practices.! Best practices based on these models could be used in other Member States of a similar business size rather than similar local development being developed.! However it will be necessary to find an adequate network on the European level for industry, standards and tax administrations 18

19 ROADMAP & NEXT STEPS! Collected input until 20th June 2003! 54 comments received plus 23 additional contributions! Report finished by 30th of July 2003! CEN Forum 7th October/Brussels! Continue work on electronic invoices on European level! Electronic Invoicing Forum Europe (e.g. website, updated information, best practices, standards )! Mandate from the European Commission to form business plan for standardisation concentrating on interoperability od e-invoicing! Task given to einvoice Focus group by CEN Forum, until end of December 2003! First internal draft will be circulated in focus group in december, published on website in Q1,

20 Standardisation on Interoperability 20

21 Some Legal Issues resolved?! Handwritten signatures needed yes, but what does it mean exactly?! Governing legislation if cross border yes, but we need to look into business practice (self billing, storage, provider/operator)! Enforcement/audit by tax administrations let s wait.! Storage of invoices (format, data, place, period) original form?! Best practices of industries accepted (self billing) yes! EDI/electronic signatures both are accepted.! Evidential admissibility in court -????? 21

22 INFORMATION & INPUT! ftp://ftp.cenorm.be/public/e- Invoicing/report/! 22