EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
EDI is the established form of electronic data exchange between companies — and the reason many mid-sized businesses believe they are already prepared. That assumption has an expiry date.
What EDI is
EDI describes the classic, usually bilaterally agreed electronic exchange of business documents between companies, for example via EDIFACT. Two partners agree on a format and exchange documents machine-to-machine.
That bilateral nature is precisely the difference to an e-invoice under EN 16931, where the data model is not agreed between two partners but standardised across Europe.
The transition rule and its end
Established EDI procedures that do not comply with EN 16931 may be used until the end of 2027 at the latest — and even then only with the invoice recipient’s consent.
Companies invoicing via EDI today therefore hold a time-limited exemption, not a permanent one. This is regularly overlooked in practice, because the existing pipeline works technically.
What follows from this
For existing EDI connections there are two routes: migrate the procedure to an EN 16931 compliant format, or separate the invoicing path and build a standard-compliant output alongside it.
Either way it is a project with lead time. And since the recipient’s consent remains a condition, the timing is not entirely your own decision.
Frequently asked
Can I keep using my existing EDI procedure?
Only for a limited time. Established EDI procedures without EN 16931 compliance are permitted until the end of 2027 at the latest, and even then only with the invoice recipient’s consent.
Is EDI the same as an e-invoice?
Not automatically. EDI is bilaterally agreed, while an e-invoice follows the Europe-wide EN 16931 data model. An EDI procedure can be standard-compliant, but is not necessarily so.
