Belgium Peppol Access Point Providers: How to Register and Connect
How Belgium's Peppol network actually works: the BOSA Peppol Authority, why the government's Hermes platform is gone, and how to register your enterprise number and find an access point.
Belgium Peppol Access Point Providers: How to Register and Connect
Belgium's B2B mandate requires every VAT-registered business to send and receive invoices over Peppol — see our regulations guide if you haven't confirmed you're in scope. Unlike Italy's SDI or Poland's KSeF, there is no central government clearance system to submit invoices to. Peppol is a decentralized network, and to use it you need an access point. Here's how the pieces actually fit together.
There Is No Government Portal to Upload Invoices To
This trips up businesses coming from B2G-only experience, or from countries with a central clearance platform. Belgium does not operate a public "invoice upload" portal for B2B e-invoicing. The government previously ran Hermes, a fail-safe platform meant to bridge businesses that weren't yet connected to Peppol during the early rollout — but Hermes was fully decommissioned for sending and receiving on 31 December 2025. Since then, every business has needed a proper Peppol connection through a market provider; there is no government-run fallback.
The informational portal that remains, einvoice.belgium.be (run by FPS BOSA), is a reference and FAQ site — it explains the rules and links to the official Peppol Directory, but it is not where you send or receive invoices.
Who Governs Belgium's Peppol Network
FPS BOSA (Federal Public Service Policy and Support) has been Belgium's Peppol Authority since 2016 — the body responsible for accrediting access points that serve the Belgian network and setting the technical rules they must follow. Belgium's government has announced this role will transfer to FPS Finance from 2027, alongside the move to real-time e-reporting — but as of today, BOSA remains the accrediting authority.
Being the Peppol Authority doesn't mean BOSA operates a portal for you to use directly. It accredits the private-sector access points that businesses actually connect through.
Your Peppol ID: Scheme 0208
Every Belgian business on the network is identified by a Peppol participant ID built from its KBO/BCE enterprise number, under scheme 0208: an enterprise number like 0123456789 becomes Peppol ID 0208:0123456789. You don't choose or apply for this ID separately — it's derived directly from your existing Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE) number.
You cannot register a Peppol ID directly with Peppol itself. Registration always happens through a certified access point, which activates your enterprise number on the network as part of onboarding. Once active, other businesses can look you up by name or enterprise number in the official Peppol Directory to confirm you're reachable before sending you an invoice.
What an Access Point Actually Does
An access point is the intermediary that connects your invoicing software or ERP to the Peppol network. Concretely, it:
- Validates your outgoing invoice against the Peppol BIS 3.0 / UBL 2.1 schema before it leaves your system
- Routes it through the network to your customer's access point, using their Peppol ID to find the right destination
- Delivers incoming invoices from your trading partners into your system in the same way, in reverse
Because Peppol is a single interoperable network, any certified access point can reach any other Peppol participant — you don't need a "Belgium-specific" provider if you already have Peppol connectivity for German, French, or Dutch invoicing. Onboarding Belgium onto an existing connection is typically a configuration step, not a new integration.
Choosing How to Connect
| Belgian-native software with built-in Peppol | Standalone access point via API | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Businesses that just need to invoice compliantly | ERP vendors, SaaS platforms, developers |
| Setup | Sign up, register your enterprise number | API integration required |
| Registration | Handled for you during onboarding | You manage Peppol ID registration through the provider |
For a full comparison of specific providers — Belgian-native tools like Billit versus multi-country API access points like Storecove, Pagero, and Basware — see our software guide. This page covers the network mechanics; that one covers pricing and features.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I still use Hermes to send invoices? A: No. Hermes was decommissioned for sending and receiving on 31 December 2025. You need a Peppol connection through a certified access point.
Q: Do I need to apply for a Peppol ID separately from my enterprise number? A: No — your Peppol ID is generated from your existing KBO/BCE enterprise number under scheme 0208. A certified access point activates it on the network when you onboard.
Q: How do I check if a supplier or customer is reachable on Peppol before invoicing them? A: Search their name or enterprise number in the official Peppol Directory. If they don't appear, they aren't yet registered with an access point.
Q: Is registering with an access point free? A: Peppol network membership itself carries no direct fee, but access point providers charge for the service — either a flat subscription, a per-invoice fee, or both, depending on the provider. See our software comparison for current pricing.
Last updated: August 2026. We track official sources (FPS BOSA's einvoice.belgium.be, the OpenPeppol Directory, and FPS Finance) and update this guide when the rules change.