Published: February 2026
Standardized electronic addressing and the retirement of legacy XRechnung profiles mark another step toward large-scale digital invoicing.
Germany has taken another step toward its future electronic invoicing landscape with the official publication of the German Electronic Business Address (GEBA), a standardized addressing scheme designed to uniquely identify businesses in electronic document exchange, particularly within the Peppol network.
GEBA is based on the German Business Identification Number (W-IdNr) and introduces a flexible structure that allows optional sub-addressing, enabling companies to reflect complex internal organizations and routing requirements. The identifier can be used as a participant ID in Peppol, supporting the discovery and routing of electronic invoices and other business documents. Although the use of GEBA remains voluntary, its publication and registration in the ISO/IEC 6523 code list signal growing alignment with international interoperability standards.
In parallel, German authorities have also announced the deprecation of several outdated XRechnung profiles in the Peppol network, with removals scheduled from August 2026. Market participants are encouraged to migrate to XRechnung 3.0 to ensure continued compliance and secure data exchange.
Together, these developments indicate Germany’s ongoing technical preparation for broader e-invoicing adoption, reinforcing standardized identification, routing, and document exchange across the Peppol ecosystem.
