The IMCO Committee has considered the Commission's proposal on electronic invoicing ('e-invoicing') in public procurement. The proposal seeks to establish a common EU-wide standard for e-invoices that all contracting authorities and entities must accept, even though they may continue to use other national standards and systems. This complemented the package for the modernisation of the EU public procurement rules, adopted in plenary in January 2014, which makes use of e-procurement procedures mandatory by 2018. The proposal is also one of the first to apply standardisation regulation 1025/2012/EU.
Public procurement is the process used by government institutions, public sector organisations and certain undertakings in the utilities sectors to buy supplies, services and public works. Such expenditure is a significant and influential component of the economy. The procurement package strengthens the rules for electronic procurement, making its use mandatory at the latest 54 months after the entry into force of the revised instruments. Moving towards more efficient paperless procedures is expected to yield great benefits. However, the modernisation package does not cover the 'post-award' stage of invoicing, because it is not procurement-specific. The e-invoicing directive seeks to fill this gap, as e-invoicing in particular is expected to generate tangible financial savings for government and suppliers, and to promote digital business transactions throughout the EU, by ensuring that there are no interoperability barriers to cross-border trade.
The European Commission presented its proposal and the accompanying Impact Assessment to IMCO Members on 30 September 2013. This was followed by an exchange of views on 4 November 2013 and the consideration of both, amendments and compromise amendments on 16 December 2013. On 17 December 2013, IMCO adopted the proposal by 37 votes in favour, and gave the green light to opening informal trilogue negotiations with the Council. The negotiations were successfully concluded at early first reading with the confirmation of the agreement by COREPER I at the end of January 2014 and IMCO endorsement on 11 February. The adoption in plenary is scheduled for March 2014.
Rapporteur: Birgit Collin-Langen (EPP)
Shadow rapporteurs: Marc Tarabella (S&D), Jürgen Creutzmann (ALDE), Heide Rühle (Greens), Malcolm Harbour (ECR), - (GUE), Matteo Salvini (EFD)
Source : © European Union, 2014 - EP