CEN/TC 434

CEN/TC 434 (CEN Technical Committee 434) is a technical body within the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) established in 2014 ^[1] to develop standards in the field of electronic invoicing. ^{[2] [3]}

Overview

CEN/TC 434 has developed the European Standard on Electronic Invoicing (EN 16931-1) and other ancillary standardization deliverables ^[4] required by the European Union's directive on electronic invoicing in public procurement, Directive 2014/55/EU. ^[5]

Directive 2014/55/EU also required:

• the test of the standard as to its practical application for an end user,
• a report on the outcome of the test to the European Parliament and the Council ^[6] by the European Commission and, after the publication and the test of the standard,
• the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of a reference to the European Standard together with the list of a limited number of syntaxes ^[7] (that CEN published as TS 16931-2).

The European E-Invoice Service Providers Association (EESPA) has played an active role in CEN/TC 434. ^[8]

Workgroups

CEN/TC 434 has the following working groups (WGs):

• CEN/TC 434/WG 1 Core semantic data model
• CEN/TC 434/WG 3 Syntax bindings
• CEN/TC 434/WG 4 Guidelines at transmission level
• CEN/TC 434/WG 5 Extension methodology
• CEN/TC 434/WG 6 Test methodology and test results
• CEN/TC 434/WG 7 Registry Services

CEN/TC 434/WG 2 (List of syntaxes) was disbanded.

Published standards

• EN 16931-1:2017 Electronic invoicing - Part 1: Semantic data model of the core elements of an electronic invoice (published on 2017-06-28)
• CEN/TS 16931-2:2017 Electronic invoicing - Part 2: List of syntaxes that comply with EN 16931-1 (published on 2017-06-28)
• CEN/TS 16931-3-1:2017 Electronic invoicing - Part 3-1: Methodology for syntax bindings of the core elements of an electronic invoice (published on 2017-07-05)
• CEN/TS 16931-3-2:2017/AC:2018 Electronic invoicing - Part 3-2: Syntax binding for ISO/IEC 19845 (UBL 2.1) invoice and credit note (published on 2018-07-18)
• CEN/TS 16931-3-3:2017 Electronic invoicing - Part 3-3: Syntax binding for UN/CEFACT XML Industry Invoice D16B (published on 2017-10-18)
• CEN/TS 16931-3-4:2017 Electronic invoicing - Part 3-4: Syntax binding for UN/EDIFACT INVOIC D16B (published on 2017-10-18)
• CEN/TR 16931-4:2017 Electronic invoicing - Part 4: Guidelines on interoperability of electronic invoices at the transmission level (published on 2017-07-05)
• CEN/TR 16931-5:2017 Electronic invoicing - Part 5: Guidelines on the use of sector or country extensions in conjunction with EN 16931–1, methodology to be applied in the real environment (published on 2017-07-05)
• CEN/TR 16931-6:2017 Electronic invoicing - Part 6: Result of the test of EN 16931–1 with respect to its practical application for an end user (published on 2017-10-18)

Thanks to an agreement between CEN and the European Commission, EN 16931-1:2017 and CEN/TS 16931-2:2017 are available free of charge from the CEN members (i.e. the European national standardization bodies).

Validation artefacts

Schematron validation artefacts for Universal Business Language (UBL), cross-industry invoicing (CII) and XML EDIFACT invoices, compliant with EN 16931-1, are available here.

See also

• List of CEN technical committees
• CEN/TC 434 page on CEN site
• CEN/TC 434 published standards
• CEF Digital
• CEF Digital — eInvoicing

References

1. European Commission, Agreement on syntaxes complying with the forthcoming European standard (EN) on Electronic Invoicing, published on 19 October 2016, accessed on 5 September 2025
2. "Event, CEN/TC434 - Public Conference - eInvoicing User Community - CEF Digital". ec.europa.eu. Europa (web portal), European Union . Retrieved 2019-01-10.
3. "First milestone in eInvoicing with the publication of the first European Standard - CEN-CENELEC". www.cencenelec.eu. European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization . Retrieved 2019-01-10.
4. "Navigating the eInvoicing standard documentation". CEF Digital. Retrieved 2019-07-01.
5. Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on electronic invoicing in public procurement
6. REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the Assessment of the European Standard on electronic invoicing, according to Directive 2014/55/EU
7. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/1870 of 16 October 2017 on the publication of the reference of the European standard on electronic invoicing and the list of its syntaxes pursuant to Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council
8. Bryant, C., Brief on the new European standard for an e-Invoice prepared by CEN/TC 434, EESPA, published on 17 April 2017, archived on 18 April 2021, accessed on 26 October 2025