Peppol glossary

Access Point (AP)

A service provider, certified by OpenPeppol, that connects you to the network. You send and receive all documents through your Access Point. See Find an Access Point.

AS4

The secure messaging protocol Peppol uses to move documents between Access Points. You don’t interact with AS4 directly — your Access Point handles it.

BIS — Business Interoperability Specification

A specification that defines a document type’s structure and meaning so any compliant receiver can process it. Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is the common profile for invoices and credit notes. See document types.

EN 16931

The European standard that defines the semantic model of an electronic invoice. Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is built on top of it.

Message Level Response (MLR)

A technical acknowledgement sent back to confirm a document was received and whether it passed validation. Not every flow uses one.

OpenPeppol

OpenPeppol AISBL is the non-profit association that owns and governs the Peppol specifications and operating framework.

Participant ID

Your unique address on the network, written as a scheme plus an identifier — for example a VAT or organisation number under a registered scheme. Trading partners use it to route documents to you. Think of it as your phone number on the Peppol network.

Peppol Authority

The body responsible for Peppol in a given country or domain. It accredits service providers and may set local requirements.

SML — Service Metadata Locator

The network-wide directory that tells a sender’s Access Point which SMP holds a given participant’s details. The first step in routing.

SMP — Service Metadata Publisher

A registry that publishes a participant’s capabilities — which document types they accept and which Access Point serves them. Your Access Point keeps your SMP entry current.

Four-corner model

The standard Peppol delivery pattern: sender → sender’s Access Point → receiver’s Access Point → receiver. See what is Peppol.