What is a Peppol ID?
A Peppol ID, formally known as a Peppol Participant Identifier, is an electronic address used to identify a company, public body or other organisation on the Peppol network. To send an e-invoice or another business document through Peppol, you need the recipient's Peppol ID.
How a Peppol ID is structured
A Peppol ID is generally written in the form scheme:value. It consists of an identifier scheme followed by the actual identifier value. The scheme indicates which registration system or issuing authority the identifier belongs to, which allows identifiers from different countries and national registers to coexist without ambiguity.
0208:0417497106- Belgian enterprise number (KBO/BCE)9925:BE0417497106- Belgian VAT number0192:912345678- Norwegian organisation number
Each country supports one or more approved identifier schemes, such as national company registration numbers, VAT numbers or other official organisational identifiers. You do not need to memorise these schemes - simply search by company name or number, and Peppol ID Lookup will identify the relevant Peppol ID where a matching public record is available.
What is Peppol?
Peppol is a global interoperability framework and network for exchanging structured electronic business documents. It is mainly used for e-invoices, but it also supports purchase orders, despatch advice messages and other business documents.
Peppol uses a four-corner model: the sender and the recipient each connect through their chosen Peppol-accredited service provider, commonly known as an Access Point. The sender's Access Point then routes the document to the recipient's Access Point.
The main advantage of Peppol is interoperability: organisations can exchange documents across countries and software systems using common standards, without requiring a separate bilateral connection between every sender and recipient.
Why the Peppol ID matters
Mandatory electronic invoicing is expanding across Europe and other parts of the world. As a result, a growing number of businesses need a reliable way to identify and reach their trading partners electronically.
In countries and sectors where Peppol is used, the Peppol ID serves as the recipient's address on the network. Registering for a Peppol ID can help a business automate invoicing, standardise document exchange and connect with customers and suppliers that already use Peppol.
A Peppol ID alone does not ensure compliance with all applicable e-invoicing legislation - legal and technical requirements vary by country.
How to find a company's Peppol ID
Use the Peppol ID lookup to search by company name, VAT number or company registration number. You can optionally select a country to narrow the results. The service lets you check whether a company is publicly listed, view its Peppol ID and see which Access Point it uses. You can also browse participants by country and explore Access Point statistics.