The midterm report was approved yesterday. It should - in addition to provide the state of the art reading on the subject - make it very clear that the work is open, nonpartisan, inclusive, technology neutral and in all aspect aiming at making e-invoicing easy and economical for all parties. The overriding goal is to make it possible for SMEs to join the business networks without having to invest, know IT or have any legal or tax risks.

The EG recommended in July that EU should move towards equal treatment of paper and e-invoices in relation to VAT. This has now happened with the recommendation published by EU today. There cannot be any rational reasons for not moving fast in this direction. It does not mean that digital signatures cannot be used - only that they are not a precondition.

Now there should not be any reasons for old and new service providers to move in and form national and panEU networks - to make it possible for invoice receivers to state "e-invoice or no-invoice" - the only fast way forward.