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Code of Practice Promulgated to Facilitate Best Practices for E-Invoicing Across EuropeHOUSTON, TX, Mar 12, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- OFS Portal, which was hired by Europe's Committee for Standardization (CEN) to produce the Code of Practice for e-invoicing, is pleased that CEN has approved the "Code of Practice for Electronic Invoicing in the European Union" on 15 February 2012 to facilitate adoption of eCommerce and in particular e-invoicing across Europe. CEN (the French acronym for Europe's Committee for Standardization) constructed the Code of Practice in response to a request by the European Commission that CEN promulgate a Code of Practice that provides a framework of best practices and which are to be adopted by trading parties, service providers and public authorities. The goal of the Code of Practice is to identify steps that, when taken, will accelerate the uptake of electronic commerce in the European Union, thus increasing business efficiency. The best practices introduced in the Code of Practice are expanded upon in the CEN Workshop Agreements (CWA) produced by the CEN Workshop on E-Invoicing Phase 3 and were also adopted on 15 February in Brussels. (see: http://www.e-invoice-gateway.net/knowledgebase/CodeofPractice/) The co-chair for this phase of work at CEN was Anders Grangard, a senior executive at GS1's global headquarters in Brussels, with responsibilities amongst other things for eCommerce initiatives. He stated that, "This is a real milestone in trying to further the broad adoption of e-invoicing for businesses of all sizes across Europe." Several key concepts are advanced in the Code of Practice to further adoption of e-invoicing. First is the concept that e-invoices be formatted through the use of royalty free standards published by international standard organizations. In addition, service providers should pledge that data transmitted will be kept confidential by the service providers and used only for purposes authorized by both trading partners. The Code of Practice also encourages all parties to implement business controls as an additional solution for compliance as permitted by the recent amendments to the EU's VAT Directive. This means that that control measures for audit and compliance will be proportionate to the taxable persons' individual circumstances. "As representing the needs of the global oil and gas industry, we were pleased to assist CEN in their efforts and bring our global experience to bear," said William Le Sage, CEO of OFS Portal. "This Code of Practice represents a benchmark by which we can look at best practices across the world. Our industry and certainly many in Europe deal with the global economy and this is one more step to make global business more efficient." About OFS Portal Headquartered in Houston, OFS Portal, LLC (www.ofs-portal.com) is a global member-based group of upstream oil and gas suppliers and service providers at the forefront of oilfield eCommerce, who are committed to promote eCommerce and reducing costs. OFS Portal promotes cost-effective ways to make eCommerce a reality for both buyers and sellers. OFS Portal works with global standards organizations to converge or develop open and non-proprietary eCommerce standards for use in the upstream oil and gas industry. Electronic catalogs are provided in standard format at no cost to OFS Portal-members' customers. OFS Portal operates with a non-profit objective. OFS Portal's members include Baker Hughes, Cameron, Halliburton, Schlumberger Oilfield Services, Trican Well Services, Vetco International Ltd. (GE Oil & Gas), and Weatherford International. Membership is open to all oilfield suppliers with activities in the upstream oil and gas sector. If you would like more information on this topic, please contact William Le Sage +1 832 681 7300 Email Contact Dave Wallis +44 (0) 778 070 0782 Email Contact SOURCE: OFS Portal LLC http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=E1B0102C9D6B4BDE http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=0DB418E3E8610A23 |