Effective from: 13 November 2024
In this text, “they” and “their” are used as third-person singular forms in reference to the term “the user”. This is to avoid the use of gender-specific forms such as “he” or “her”.
As operator of the Federal Central Invoice Submission Portal (Zentrale Rechnungseingangsplattform des Bundes; ZRE), the Federal Republic of Germany (hereinafter referred to as the operator) makes the ZRE available through its IT service provider the Federal Information Technology Centre (hereinafter referred to as ITZBund) as an online service to parties issuing and sending invoices (hereinafter referred to as the user). With the ZRE, the user can create or upload electronic invoices and send them to the invoice recipient. By creating a user account, the user enters into a contract with the operator governing the use of the ZRE.
The following terms of use apply to all services that are offered to the user as part of the ZRE.
Definitions of terms are set out in the Ordinance on Electronic Invoicing in Federal Public Procurement (E-Rechnungs-Verordnung, E-Rech-VO), which was adopted on 4 April 2017 as a result of the Act to Implement EU Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement. This applies in particular to the terms “invoice”, “electronic invoice”, “invoice issuer” “invoice recipient” and “invoice sender”. The E-Invoicing Ordinance governs the organisation of the Federal Government's electronic invoicing system.
The E-Invoicing Ordinance can be found online here (in German).
Procurement Office of the Federal Ministry of the Interior
Brühler Str. 3
53119 Bonn
Germany
Postal address: 11016 Berlin, Germany
Email: e-rechnung@bescha.bund.de
Internet: http://www.beschaffungsamt.de
Federal Information Technology Centre (ITZBund)
Bernkasteler Str. 8
53175 Bonn
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)228 99680-0
Data Protection Officer of the Procurement Office of the Federal Ministry of the Interior
Brühler Str. 3
53119 Bonn
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)228 99610-0
Email: datenschutz@bescha.bund.de
By using the services of the ZRE, the user can create and/or upload electronic invoices in order to make them available to the invoice recipient. While creating an electronic invoice, the user can opt to download the preliminary version of the electronic invoice and to continue creating the invoice at a later point in time or to use that version as a template.
After the invoice has been completed, the ZRE runs a validation check on the invoice and any supporting documents to be submitted with it. The validation process includes a virus scan and a check that the invoice is formally correct and complete (e.g. in terms of invoice format, size restrictions and whether all required fields have been filled in; see section 8 for more information). If the electronic invoice is valid, it is then submitted to the invoice recipient for a final invoice check. From the time of creation or upload right through to final checking of the electronic invoice, the ZRE allows the user to track the status of electronic invoices sent. The status of an invoice in the ZRE can be one of the following:
“New”, “Delivered”, “Collected”, “Rejected” and “System error”.
The operator is obliged to make the ZRE available for use only in its current version at any given time. The operator is entitled to make changes to the ZRE and its services provided the operator has a legitimate interest in doing so and provided the user can reasonably be expected to adapt to such changes. The operator has a legitimate interest when changes or refinements are necessary in order to keep up with current technological standards or frameworks, or in response to changes in the law, or in order to improve functionalities or IT security. The scope of ZRE services, as described in the previous paragraphs, remains unaffected by any such changes. The user is of course informed of any changes in writing.
See section 12 for information about the deletion of sent invoices, supporting documents and log data.
The services provided by the ZRE are limited to the creation or upload of electronic invoices for recipients. Collection of electronic invoices from the ZRE by the invoice recipient, checking the arithmetic and factual correctness of the electronic invoice or ordering payment are solely the responsibility of the invoice recipient.
To use the services of the ZRE, a user account must be created and the following criteria must be met:
Any natural person of legal capacity or legal entity can create a user account with the ZRE. The following user data is required to create a user account:
After registration, the user initially has browser-based access to their user account by default, which they can use to manually create, send and upload electronic invoices. In addition, the user can activate the transmission methods “email” and “Peppol” in their user account if they wish to send electronic invoices via those channels. The following additional user information must be provided in order to use the respective transmission method:
Please note that according to section 10 of the Ordinance on Electronic Invoicing in Federal Public Procurement, the abovementioned transmission methods may be changed later depending on the outcome of a review of the ZRE.
Section 4 of the E-Invoicing Ordinance sets out the requirements for the invoice data model and states that electronic invoices should comply with the latest version of the XRechnung standard or European standard EN 16931-1-2017.
The XRechnung standard was drawn up by the Coordination Office for IT Standards on behalf of the IT Planning Council.
The current version of the XRechnung standard is available here.
The European Standard on Electronic Invoicing EN 16931-1-2017 was published by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) on 28 June 2017.
Electronic invoices to be sent are verified for compliance with the XRechnung standard or European standard EN 16931-1-2017 for electronic invoices using schema and schematron validation that meets the specifications of the respective standard.
An electronic invoice must also contain required information according to section 5 of the Ordinance on Electronic Invoicing in Federal Public Procurement in the following XRechnung fields or in the fields of the European standard EN 16931-1-2017:
| Mandatory information according to section 5 of the Ordinance on Electronic Invoicing in Federal Public Procurement | XRechnung fields or European standard fields European standard |
|---|---|
| Buyer reference ID of the invoice recipient* | BT-10 |
| User's bank details | For bank transfer: BG-17 (BT-84 to BT-86) For direct debit**: BG-19 (BT-89 to BT-91) |
| Payment terms | BT-20 and/or BT-9 |
| User's email address | BT-43 |
| Seller identifier (if known) | BT-29 |
| Purchase order number (if known) | BT-13 |
BT = Business Term or information element
BG = Business Group or group of information elements
* Further information on the buyer reference (Leitweg-ID) is available at https://en.e-rechnung-bund.de/e-invoicing-faq/buyer-reference/ or from the invoice recipient.
** Only with SEPA Direct Debit mandate
Invoice formats other than the XRechnung standard that meet the European standard EN-16931-1-2017 and the Ordinance on Electronic Invoicing in Federal Public Procurement are also accepted, as long as the Federal Information Technology Centre has successfully verified the technical compatibility of these invoice formats and a final application specification for these invoice data models has been made available to the Federal Information Technology Centre. It should be noted that the final application specification must be completed and fully documented. The following requirements must also be met:
The format regulations for supporting documents and size restrictions for electronic invoices and their supporting documents can be found in the “Technical details” document here. The user should take into account any technical restrictions on the part of the invoice recipient. For instance, security authorities may only receive attachments in PDF/A format. In each case, the user should ask the invoice recipient whether any such restrictions apply, and if so which.
Supporting documents can also be added as links (as separate downloadable resources via URL or as embedded documents) to an invoice. The user must request information on the requirements for links from the invoice recipient. If an invoice recipient cannot open a link, the invoice recipient can reject the invoice because it is not possible to check the invoice.
The provisions set out in this section must be met in order for the invoice to be delivered to the invoice recipient for collection in the ZRE.
Other technical requirements that the user must meet in order to use the services of the ZRE can be found here, in the document “Technical details in connection with the Terms of use for the Federal Central Invoice Submission Portal (ZRE)”.
An electronic invoice is considered to have been received by the invoice recipient as soon as it shows the status “Delivered”. This is the case when the invoice has been submitted to the ZRE and has undergone the validation checks outlined above. This is dependent on adherence to the requirements for formats and size restrictions for electronic invoices and supporting documents (see section 8). The ZRE allows the user to track the status of electronic invoices via log data in the ZRE web interface.
See section 12 for information about the deletion of sent invoices, supporting documents and log data.
a) The ZRE is generally available at all times. However, it cannot be guaranteed that the ZRE is available at all times or at any specific times. Please note that response times may be slower or the website may be temporarily unavailable from the hours of 18:00 to 8:00 each day due to maintenance work.
b) The operator may block or restrict access to the ZRE in case of technical faults or overloading in the ZRE or in any of its electronic installations, or if such faults or overloading appear to be imminent. In such cases, the operator will make every effort to ensure the ZRE is fully functional as soon as possible.
Use of the ZRE is free of charge. Costs incurred by the user for accessing the ZRE, especially for the provision, connection and operation of the necessary software and hardware as well as for internet use, will not be reimbursed by the controllers of the ZRE.
a) As the ZRE is a web application/portal with individualised access, personal data may be processed during use of the ZRE. The privacy policy for the ZRE can be found here. The privacy policy is not part of these terms of use.
b) Invoices are deleted by the operator 30 days after submission in the ZRE, regardless of their processing status.
Log data recording the activities of user accounts are deleted 180 days after the activity in question has occurred. Log data in connection with invoices are deleted 365 days after submission of the invoice in the ZRE.
Exception: supporting documents added to an invoice in the form of a reference (known as “large attachments”) are held for up to 120 days on the operator's systems. The transaction and volume data described in section IX of the privacy policy, which are required for creating the anonymous monthly and quarterly reports, are deleted after a period of 365 days.
a) Responsibility for determining the protection requirement
A protection requirements analysis was carried out for the personal data included in invoices and the ZRE was designed accordingly.
Invoices that contain classified information as specified in section 4 (2) numbers 1 to 4 of the Security Clearance Check Act (Sicherheitsüberprüfungsgesetz, SÜG) may not be submitted via the ZRE. The same applies to invoices that contain certain categories of personal data as specified in Article 4 (13) to (15) of the GDPR and Article 9 (1) of the GDPR, or “social data” as defined in section 67 (2) of Book X of the Social Code (Sozialgesetzbuch, SGB). Invoices that contain confidential invoice data as provided for in section 4 (2) number 4 of the Security Clearance Check Act may not be submitted via email, in line with section 8 (2) of the Ordinance on Electronic Invoicing in Federal Public Procurement. The user is responsible for adherence to these provisions.
In principle, it is possible to submit such sensitive invoice data separately from the invoice itself (for instance as supporting documents) without using the ZRE. (See also the additional information on BG-24 in the XRechnung standard.) Such solutions and alternatives to the transmission of invoices containing classified information or personal data of the kinds specified in Article 4 (13) to (15) of the GDPR and Article 9 (1) of the GDPR should be arranged with the invoice recipient. The user is responsible for adherence to these provisions.
b) Responsibility for access data
The user is responsible for ensuring that no third party gains unauthorised access to their password or user account. User accounts are strictly non-transferable.
c) Virus-free documents
It is the user's responsibility to scan any files for viruses prior to submission and to send only virus-free files to the ZRE. Electronic invoices containing a virus will be deleted as part of the validation check.
a) The user may terminate their use of the ZRE at any time without giving a reason. To do this, the user can use the function “Delete ZRE account” on the page “Manage user account”.
b) User accounts are deactivated automatically after 365 days of inactivity (i.e. if the account has not been signed into or used for sending invoices). In such cases the user is informed of the deactivation by email. The account may be reactivated within 30 days of its deactivation. Otherwise, the account is deleted permanently from the ZRE. The user is informed of this by email 30 days before the account is deleted.
Regardless of this, the user may register for a new account at a later date.
c) The operator may temporarily or permanently block a user account if there is reason to believe that the user is not adequately complying with the duty to ensure that no unauthorised third party can access their password and/or user account (see section 13b) or that contents stored in the user account violate the law and/or the rights of third parties. Reasonable grounds to suspect a violation of the law and/or of third-party rights are typically provided by courts, authorities and/or other third parties informing the operator of such violations. A blocked account must be unblocked immediately if there are no longer reasonable grounds for suspicion.
d) Incorrect or incomplete information are grounds for the operator to refuse the registration of an account and/or to block an account with immediate effect. For this reason, the operator reserves the right to check the information provided in the registration form.
a) No guarantee
The operator does not guarantee that the services of the ZRE will be available at all times. The operator aims to ensure that submitted, validated electronic invoices are made available for collection by the invoice recipient as quickly as possible. The user can find detailed information regarding the status of a submitted invoice in their user account.
b) Disclaimer notice
c) Legal requirements for invoices
The operator is not liable for tax and legal compliance of electronic invoices transmitted using the ZRE. This is the duty of the user. Furthermore, the operator is not responsible for ensuring compliance with retention periods required under commercial and tax law.
| a) | The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, except where a law is connected to another jurisdiction and except in connection with the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). |
| b) | The place of performance for all services is Berlin. The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contract is Berlin. The operator reserves the right to bring an action against the user at another competent court. This jurisdiction clause is only valid if the user is a trader, a legal person under public law or a special fund under public law. |
| c) | Terms of use that differ from or contradict the above may only apply to the user if confirmed by the operator in writing. The same applies to any amendment of this requirement for written confirmation. The operator will inform the user in writing of any amendments to these terms of use. Such amendments are deemed to be approved by the user if the user does not lodge an objection to the validity of the new terms of use within six weeks of receipt of notice. In case of amendments to the terms, the user is informed separately of their right to object and of the legal consequences of silence. |
| d) | Should individual provisions of these terms of use become completely or partially invalid, this will not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. A completely or partially invalid provision is to be replaced by another provision whose objective comes as close as possible to the objective of the invalid provision. |