Peppol access point in Belgium: what it does and how to check one

A Peppol access point is the certified company that carries your structured invoices over the Peppol network and, if it also holds your registration, receives your suppliers' invoices for you. FPS Finance (the Belgian federal tax administration) calls it a "Peppol service provider". You cannot connect to Peppol directly: you always go through one, usually built into your invoicing or accounting software. Two things matter: the provider must really be certified, and someone must receive for your enterprise number.

This guide is for Belgian businesses and their accountants deciding who sends and who receives for them. It covers the access point's role, how certification works and how to check it, and how sending and receiving can be split. Choosing invoicing software as a whole is covered in how to choose e-invoicing software, and the network itself in What is Peppol?.

What the law requires, and where the access point fits

An infringement counts as a second or later one only if it is established at least three months after the previous infringement that was fined. The first-quarter 2026 tolerance has ended: FPS Finance now waives fines only exceptionally, after an individual analysis.

Most VAT-registered businesses established in Belgium must be able to receive, including those under the small business exemption; businesses making only art. 44-exempt supplies, and those not established in Belgium, do not. None of these texts requires one provider for both sending and receiving, and none provides for certifying software.

What an access point does

Peppol uses a four-corner model. Your software (corner 1) hands the invoice to your access point (corner 2), which delivers it to your customer's access point (corner 3), which passes it to your customer (corner 4). Access points recognise each other through certificates issued by OpenPeppol, the association that runs Peppol, so your provider can deliver to any other certified provider.

Peppol access point

The certified service provider that transmits Peppol documents on your behalf. The Peppol ID it registers is not its own: for a Belgian business it is 0208 followed by your ten-digit enterprise number.

What an access point is not

• Not the invoice format: EN 16931 and Peppol BIS define the content; the access point carries it.
• Not the Peppol Directory: an optional search index, filled with a delay, that neither proves nor rules out that you can receive.
• Not a customer portal: a customer cannot impose its portal on you without your written consent (FPS Finance B2B FAQ).
• Not your accountant: it neither checks your VAT treatment nor books your invoices.

How certification works in Belgium

The Belgian Peppol Authority is FPS BOSA (the federal public service for policy and support), in that role since 2016. BOSA announced on 25 June 2026 that FPS Finance will take over the role from 2027; until then BOSA remains in charge. BOSA's page lists six steps for a company to become a Belgian Peppol service provider:

1. Gather information, optionally in a kick-off meeting with the authority.
2. Join OpenPeppol.
3. Sign the Peppol service provider agreement with the Belgian Peppol Authority.
4. Pass conformance tests in the Peppol Testbed with test certificates.
5. Obtain production certificates, attaching the signed agreement.
6. Be added to OpenPeppol's list of certified service providers and the authority's national list.

Belgium adds one rule of its own: providers must register every Belgian participant they serve under its enterprise number, scheme 0208 (Belgian Peppol Authority Specific Requirements). FPS Finance adds that refusing to do so may lead to withdrawal of certification. These requirements apply to every provider with Belgian customers, wherever it is based.

Provider obligations are getting stricter: Message Level Status support in 2027, and an ISO/IEC 27001 certificate or an approved equivalent by 1 October 2027. These bind providers, not you.

Peppol certification is not a quality label, and FPS Finance does not certify software. Its list of software solutions is built from vendors' own registrations, and FPS Finance states that a listing is neither an evaluation nor a certification.

Check a provider in four steps

1. Ask who the provider is. Ask the vendor whether it is itself a certified Peppol service provider or connects through one, embedded or white-label. Both are normal. Get the answer in writing.
2. Find it on the OpenPeppol list. The list of certified service providers (last updated 7 October 2026 when we checked) shows whether each member is "AP Certified", "SMP Certified" or both, and which Peppol Authority supervises it. The country shown is the legal seat, not where the provider operates. Providers can be removed after non-compliance penalties, so note the date you checked.
3. Check your own registration once it exists. On lookup.peppol.org, the tool FPS Finance points to, enter 0208: followed by your ten-digit enterprise number. Where document types are listed, invoices and credit notes should both appear. The lookup shows what you can receive, not whether you can send.
4. Prove it with real documents. Send an invoice you have to issue anyway and ask a supplier to send you its next invoice on Peppol. Peppol's test and production networks are separate, so a demo on the test network says nothing about your registration.

If a vendor does not name its provider publicly, steps 3 and 4 still give you independent evidence that the connection is real.

Sending and receiving are separate jobs

Receiving depends on a registration; sending does not. Each Peppol participant ID is registered with one and only one SMP (SML specification 1.3.0, §2.1), so one provider at a time receives for your ID. To send, your access point only has to find your customer: you need no registration of your own.

Registration also has a legal effect. FPS Finance treats publication on Peppol as agreement to receive structured invoices, so a registration you forgot still tells your suppliers to deliver there.

Receiving must cover credit notes as well as invoices. Peppol BIS Billing requires receivers to support both credit notes and negative invoices, and a credit note that corrects a structured invoice must be issued in the same format (art. 53 §2bis VAT Code).

Which set-up fits your situation

Groups and VAT units have extra questions: see Peppol for Belgian groups: one ID per company, VAT units, mergers.

A common set-up: your accountant receives, OrdoGrid sends

Many accountants registered their clients on their own platform so supplier invoices flow straight into the bookkeeping. You can keep that and send from OrdoGrid. OrdoGrid connects to Peppol through a certified access point; it is not itself a Peppol service provider, and its Peppol features work only for companies with a BE VAT number. The Peppol screens are in French in every interface language; translations are in brackets.

1. Confirm the registration. Ask your accountant to confirm in writing that its platform receives for 0208: plus your enterprise number, for invoices and credit notes and, if you want your customers' responses, for Invoice Responses. Check it on lookup.peppol.org.
2. Sign the authorisation. In OrdoGrid, open Peppol: until your VAT number is authorised it opens Autorisation Peppol (Peppol authorisation). Check Nom complet du signataire (signatory's full name), tick the confirmation and click Signer et confirmer l'autorisation (sign and confirm). Because OrdoGrid finds you already on Peppol, the statement is the send-only version. It is a typed confirmation, not a qualified electronic signature.
3. Choose send-only. Réception Peppol shows Déjà inscrit sur le réseau Peppol; click Continuer en envoi seul. The Peppol page then shows Mode : Envoi seul (send only).
4. Send. Open the invoice and click Envoyer (send). OrdoGrid looks up your customer from its VAT number and ticks Envoi électronique via Peppol (electronic sending via Peppol) if it is found. Click Sauvegarder & Envoyer (save and send) to save and send in one go. Follow it in Peppol → Outbox: Traité means network delivery, not acceptance by the customer.
5. Agree how responses reach you. Your customers' Invoice Responses (accepted, rejected, under query) go to your accountant's platform, not to OrdoGrid. OrdoGrid's Inbox tab stays empty, with a note that your Peppol registration is not managed by the platform. Agree that the accountant forwards responses the same day.

To move reception to OrdoGrid later, your current provider must deregister you first, because OrdoGrid does not support Peppol's migration key. The full procedure is in set up Peppol in OrdoGrid; provider changes in general are in switch Peppol access point.

Questions to ask any access point provider

Message Level Response (MLR) is a legacy status message that Peppol retires on 1 May 2027. OrdoGrid registers to receive self-billing documents but cannot issue self-billed invoices.

Worked example: Peeters Vertalingen sends from OrdoGrid, its accountant receives

Peeters Vertalingen BV, a translation agency in Leuven, has enterprise number 0756.321.965, VAT number BE 0756.321.965 and Peppol ID 0208:0756321965. In December 2025 its accountant registered it on the accountant's platform, which has received its supplier invoices ever since. In September 2026 the manager, An Peeters, starts invoicing from OrdoGrid.

The split is compliant: Peeters can both send and receive. The cost was six days lost on a disputed invoice, because responses go where the registration is. Had An chosen send-only with nobody receiving, Peeters would have had no means to receive and would risk €1,500 for a first infringement.

Edge cases and common mistakes

Evidence to keep

What the law requires. Keep invoices sent and received for 7 years from 1 January of the year after issue (art. 60 VAT Code, as amended by the Law of 18 December 2025), with their origin, integrity and legibility guaranteed. This includes invoices received at a provider you later leave. Invoices linked to VAT revision on immovable property must be kept for 15 or 25 years.

What we recommend:

1. Written confirmation from your receiving provider: the ID, the document types (including Invoice Response) and the start date.
2. A dated lookup.peppol.org screenshot after setup and after every provider change.
3. The contract naming the Peppol service provider, with its exit and deregistration terms.
4. A dated screenshot of the provider's entry on the OpenPeppol list.
5. When you leave a provider: its deregistration confirmation and a full export of your documents.

What OrdoGrid shows. Peppol → Statut lists Autorisations with "Signé par" (signed by), Réception (Inbox) with "Depuis le" (since) or Non enregistré (not registered), and Annuaire Peppol (Peppol directory), which says whether OrdoGrid found your company on Peppol and then shows your Identifiant Peppol (Peppol ID), the Access point de réception (receiving access point: Notre access point or Autre prestataire) when known and, for a 0208 registration, Nom enregistré (registered name), Pays (country) and Documents supportés (supported documents). In send-only mode the tab also shows a banner with the Peppol ID it found; when another provider receives for you, it reads "Entreprise référencée sur Peppol auprès d'un autre prestataire" (company listed on Peppol with another provider) and confirms that sending from OrdoGrid works. For the document types you are registered for, keep a dated lookup.peppol.org screenshot. Screenshot the tab after each change: OrdoGrid is not a legal archive. To check another company, see Peppol participant lookup.

FAQ

What is a Peppol access point?

The certified service provider that sends and, where it holds your registration, receives structured documents on Peppol for you. FPS Finance calls it a Peppol service provider. It is usually built into invoicing or accounting software.

Do I need to run my own access point?

No. You cannot register on Peppol directly; FPS Finance says registration is only possible through an approved service provider, usually via your software. Running an access point means becoming a certified provider yourself, which few businesses need.

Can I have two Peppol providers?

Yes, one to send and one to receive. Only one provider at a time can receive for your Peppol ID, so two providers cannot both receive your invoices.

Does sending require my own Peppol registration?

No. Your access point only needs to find your customer's registration. The law still requires you to be able to receive, through the same provider or another one.

How do I know a provider is certified?

Look for it on OpenPeppol's list of certified service providers, which shows AP and SMP certification and the supervising Peppol Authority. Then check your own registration on lookup.peppol.org and exchange real documents.

What does FPS BOSA do in Peppol?

It is the Belgian Peppol Authority: it signs agreements with Belgian service providers, coordinates them and requires registration under the enterprise number (0208). FPS Finance takes over the role from 2027.

What happens to my Peppol ID if I change provider?

Your ID stays the same: 0208 and your enterprise number. Only the registration moves, either by the old provider deregistering you first or through Peppol's migration key. OrdoGrid does not support the migration key.

Is OrdoGrid a Peppol access point?

No. OrdoGrid connects to Peppol through a certified access point. It can send for you and, if you activate reception, receive under 0208 and your enterprise number.