The fundamentals of an Access Point service provider – practical knowledge sharing session organised by EU4Digital Facility

As part of the consultation activities on eDelivery enablement in the Eastern partner countries, EU4Digital organised a virtual event on 30 November to present and discuss the business model of an eDelivery Access Point owner. The session was dedicated to those pilot countries which are direct participants in the eDelivery pilot activity within the EU4Digital framework – Armenia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

The practical session included speakers from the OpenPeppol association and the Polish Peppol Authority, whose expert practitioners shared practical information and real-life examples of Access Point service provision.

The OpenPeppol’s market development lead Stephen Graham overviewed the concept of a Peppol Service Provider, its key responsibilities, activities as a network member and obligations to OpenPeppol. The importance of establishing a Peppol Authority was discussed – how it accelerates and controls the direction of Peppol implementation and Access Point service provision in countries. 

Looking ahead, it was noted that more and more countries are joining the Peppol network – recently the first access point was established in China and Japan has assigned its Peppol Authority. There are currently 493 registered Peppol eDelivery service providers worldwide and the aim is to reach 500 by the end of the year. This shows that the network is constantly expanding, and members are able to access more and more cross-border and domestic partners digitally. 

Michal Packowski, the representative of Polish Peppol Authority, shared the government perspective on collaborating and working effectively with Access Point service providers in procurement data exchange. Mr. Packowski presented the timeline of Peppol implementation in the country and described the government’s collaboration with three eDelivery Service providers, which support around 15,000 Polish users. The national platform for eInvoicing was introduced and it was noted that it has experienced steady growth over the years due to the increased awareness in the country of Peppol service benefits and promotional work of Peppol Authority.

The EU4Digital Facility has recently initiated preparatory activities for an additional eDelivery pilot between the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. Therefore, in addition to Armenia and Ukraine, which already took part in the previous EU4Digital eDelivery pilots, the Republic of Moldova will shortly establish its first Peppol eDelivery Access Point and will become a member of Peppol network.