Master European
e-invoicing

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is the computer-to-computer exchange of any document – purchase order, invoice, shipping notice, sales order, etc. – in a standard electronic format between businesses. They are written in a format that has to be agreed upon by participating businesses, and meet the requirements of the respective industry and country. EDI systems can be complex and costly.

E-invoicing focuses exclusively on the exchange of invoices in a structured, machine-readable format. E-invoices are defined in standardized formats and exchanged by standard protocols, supported by common invoice processing systems. E-invoices have to meet the regional regulatory requirements such as EU initiative VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA).

A PDF invoice is a digital representation of a paper document, easy for humans to read. While an e-invoice is created and exchanged in a structured, machine-readable format. Not so easy for humans to understand. However e-invoices often contain the human readable invoice representation as well as an additional layer embedded inside (e.g., PDF invoice embedded in the e-invoice structure).

There are pros and cons for each method. Country-specific e-invoicing solutions bring regulatory compliance, customized features for each country’s unique business practices, and local support. But the cons outweigh. Managing multiple solutions and vendors across different countries, training for various systems, integration challenges, scalability limitations, and data security.

A unified AP solution manages e-invoicing across countries. Processing all invoice types, from PDFs to e-invoices. One partner, approval route, and set of business rules. Plus in the long-term it’s cheaper. For more information, check out Delivering E-invoicing Solutions with a Unified AP platform.

The European Commission’s VAT in the Digital Age proposal states that its goal is to create an accord in terms of Digital Reporting Requirements (DRR) and an effective VAT control system in the EU.

Countries are currently rolling out their own requirements, which vary country to country. Each with a different timeline. Some countries are already there – Brazil, Indonesia, Italy, Germany, with others like Belgium, France and Poland following the trend in 2026.

Absolutely! Rossum already supports e-invoices across Europe, and as new country mandates roll out, you’ll be able to activate the relevant e-invoicing module to stay compliant without disruption. Our platform is built to handle diverse e-invoicing standards worldwide. If you operate in a specific country and need clarity on local regulations, our experts are ready to guide you.

Most companies live in a hybrid reality, receiving both PDFs and e-invoices. A unified platform eliminates the need for separate, disconnected workflows. Rossum provides a single, consistent process for your AP team, reducing complexity, lowering costs, and providing a single source of truth for all invoice data.

This is a common problem that Rossum is built to solve. Our platform can use information from an attached PDF to fill in missing fields in the e-invoice data. For errors, it validates against business rules and compliance mandates, flagging exceptions for review or automatically notifying the sender.