The rollout of the German Electronic Business Address (GEBA) takes its final operational step in the Peppol network as anticipated in our previous report on GEBA electronic addresses for German businesses. Overseen by KoSIT as the Peppol Authority for Germany as well as the official standards body for XRechnung and GEBA, the journey from initial standard publication to live network implementation is now complete. First detailed in KoSIT’s original GEBA announcement [↗︎], this standard establishes a standardized routing identifier for German enterprises. Subsequent publication of the official English GEBA specification [↗︎] fully covers international interoperability.
Starting Monday, August 17, 2026, the Peppol BIS Billing May 2026 release [↗︎] (version 3.0.21) becomes mandatory for use across the entire Peppol network. Specifically, this step in the publication process includes the update of codelists and schematron rule sets as technical artifacts in Peppol BIS Billing and XRechnung. The updates fully integrate the ICD 0246 code into the Peppol EAS (Electronic Address Scheme) code list. The general structural requirements are laid out in detail within the official GEBA Format Specification [↗︎] as summarized in our earlier comprehensive post on GEBA electronic addresses for German businesses.
In parallel, the national XRechnung standard receives its expected Summer 2026 update in mid-August. This synchronized release ensures that national e-invoicing rules and international Peppol specifications completely align regarding ICD code 0246 integration.
By completing this transition from publication to mandatory use, KoSIT and OpenPeppol have delivered another practical implementation element for automated invoice delivery in Germany. Service providers and enterprise systems must ensure their applications, Service Metadata Publishers (SMPs) and Access Points are fully aligned. The live availability of GEBA marks another milestone in taking electronic invoicing across Germany and the European Union into the future.
