Electronic Invoices and Public Procurement Regulations

The Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology announced the upcoming introduction of new legal provisions regarding the use of electronic invoices issued electronically. According to the draft of the act on electronic invoicing in public procurement, licenses for roadworks or services and public and private partnerships, e-invoices will be accepted by all institutions opening public procurement proceedings.

The law will come into effect next year. For public procurement exceeding 30 thousand euros, the new type of invoice will be accepted from 18 April. For public procurement proceedings below that amount, the new regulation will become effective a few months later, starting from 1 August.

The Updates on Electronic Invoices:

Although electronic invoices will become acceptable, there will be no obligation to issue such documents. They will still be allowed to use the old-fashioned, paper versions of invoices. Entrepreneurs and institutions will gain access to a dedicated cloud service for storing and viewing electronic documents. Accessing the platform will be free of charge.

As to the invoices themselves, they will have an established structure that will allow for their automatic processing. This, in turn, means easier archiving, elimination of incorrect or fake invoices and time and money savings, at least according to the creators of the new act. In practice, the new solution may allow for shorter payment periods.

Jadwiga Emilewicz from the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology explained that the change is motivated by the obligations arising out of the existing EU regulations, i.e. the directive on electronic invoicing in public procurement. Polish law needs to be adapted to those provisions. The aforementioned online platform and e-invoice system will make it easier for Polish entrepreneurs to take part in procurement proceedings carried out not only in Poland but also in other EU member states.

The system of electronic invoices is a step toward the digitization of the public sector.