Norway shifts to compulsory B2G e-invoicing as from 1-7-2012

As from 1 July 2012 B2G e-invoicing becomes compulsory in Norway. The format is EHF: Elektronisk HandelsFormat. This format is a subset of subset of UBL2.0. The Norwegian Agency for Public Management and e-Government (Difi) is responsible for the roll out of the e-invoicing in Norway.

Compulsory, but to whom?
It is unclear to whom B2G e-invoicing will become compulsory. Hans Christian Holte, the director general of DIFI says that all suppliers, SME’s and one-(wo)man firms, must send their invoices electronically to the Norwegian public sector.

Norwegian software providers Compello takes a different approach. It states that as from 1 July 2012 all State-owned enterprises are obliged to accept the invoice and credit note in EHF and that all suppliers who deal with the state have a right to send e-invoices.

The world upside down
Hans Christian Holte of DIFI concludes that they can’t expect that SME’s and one-(wo)man-firms- have their own proprietary e-procurement solutions installed. He thinks that  a “massive adoption scenario” will be difficult to meet unless the private sector can offer several web-based e-invoicing services.

Wait, wait just a second. The Norwegian government wants to make B2G e-invoicing in EHF compulsory because they benefit from (processing) this type of e-invoicing, right? And now the private sector has to come to the rescue, with web-based solutions to get the SME’s to adopt EHF e-invoicing?

This was how the private sector reacted: “Today there are over fifty suppliers offering web-invoicing in Norway, but only one supplier is ready to produce electronic invoices on EHF format.”

Business opportunities?
Because of this situation DIFI’s director general, Hans Christian Holte, invites suppliers to a dialogue meeting about web-based e-invoicing services for the public sector. This meeting will be held this September.

DIFI strives for a situation with fair competition where as many suppliers as possible offers electronic invoicing in the EHF format implementing PEPPOL BIS. With a broad choice of web-based e-invoicing solutions available to the SME’s a free flow of invoices from SME’s can be assured.

The question is, do these software suppliers get an incentive/ compensation to get going?