Hermes is a web application developed on behalf of BOSA. Thanks to Hermes, suppliers can send structured electronic invoices to all their Belgian clients, even those who cannot yet process these electronic invoices automatically.
Belgian organizations, with a valid CBE number, not yet affiliated with a commercial Service Provider receive structured electronic invoices via Hermes. These structured electronic invoices are converted to a readable form, PDF, in the Hermes portal and sent via e-mail.
In this way, BOSA wants to promote the use of e-invoicing through the Peppol network.
As a sender, you need to consider some conditions in order to send invoices to Hermes:
IxorDocs is a Hermes integrator, through our API or web applications reach all your Belgian customers.
All organizations with a valid CBE that are not affiliated with a commercial Service Provider are automatically registered on SMP Hermes.
As the recipient, you will receive an email with the readable form of the document. Directors, legal representatives and Billing Officers of your company can log in to the Hermes portal and view incoming documents there.
If you want to switch to a commercial Service Provider, your new Service Provider can migrate your data very easily. More technical information can be found here. If your new Service Provider has any questions about the migration procedure, they can contact peppol@bosa.fgov.be.
In this way, BOSA is promoting the use of structured electronic billing for both senders and recipients and trying to convince all organizations to join a commercial service provider.
Peppol BIS (Business Interoperability Specification) are a set of technical specifications designed to enable seamless and interoperable document exchange within the Peppol network.
UBL stands for Universal Business Language, a standard language for exchanging electronic documents, such as invoices. It is a file in XML format and has .xml as its file extension.
Through the Peppol network you can, in addition to invoices, also exchange response messages with your customers or your suppliers. There are two types of response messages, namely IMR and MLR.
To send an invoice through Peppol, create an account with a Peppol Access Point provider. You know your customer's Peppol identification (PEPPOL ID). You provide your provider with the structured electronic invoice. Your provider delivers your e-invoice to your customer's Peppol Access Point. Your client receives your invoice.
As the name suggests, a Peppol Access Point is your gateway to the Peppol network. It's a service you purchase from a service provider, such as IxorDocs (a certified Peppol Access Point). By using a certified Peppol Access Point, you can easily and securely send and receive e-invoices to and from any organization connected to the Peppol network, regardless of country or industry.
A Peppol ID is a unique number combination just like your phone number in the telecom network. It consists of a Scheme ID (country code) and Participant ID (organization number). In Belgium mainly the KBO number is used as the organization number, in the Netherlands the KVK number. With this number, your organization can be found in the Peppol network and you can safely and efficiently receive and send e-invoices.
Peppol is a secure, international network that allows companies to exchange electronic documents with anyone registered in the network. Peppol stands for Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line.
E-invoicing is the process of automatically creating, sending, receiving and processing invoices in a structured digital format, such as UBL (Universal Business Language). These digital invoices can be transferred directly and securely from one financial system to another, minimizing human intervention and errors. E-invoicing is increasingly becoming the norm in Europe, governments and European institutions are taking strategic initiatives to encourage e-invoicing.
