Norway e-invoicing rules for public procurement

Norway requires electronic invoices in public procurement. The rule is set by FOR-2019-04-01-444, a regulation under the Public Procurement Act (anskaffelsesloven). If you sell to public buyers, this regulation decides which formats you can send.

What the rule covers

The regulation applies to procurements governed by the Public Procurement Act. It applies to the contracting authorities listed in section 2 of that act. Check that list before you assume a buyer is covered.

Approved formats

Section 4 names the formats. For contracts below the EEA threshold, you can use EHF invoicing version 3.0 or later, or PEPPOL BIS Billing version 3.0 or later. For contracts above the threshold, the regulation also accepts other approved formats that implement the European standard EN 16931.

What buyers must require

Section 5 says contracting authorities must require electronic invoices in an approved standard format in their contracts. The contract sets the obligation, so the format you send depends on what the buyer has written into it.

Key dates

• The regulation entered into force on 2 April 2019 and was announced on 3 April 2019.
• It applies to procurements initiated after it entered into force. A procurement counts as initiated when it is announced or, if it is not announced, when the authority first asks suppliers to express interest or submit tenders.
• It was last amended on 16 October 2020 (FOR-2020-10-16-2063).

VAT registration threshold

The VAT Act (merverdiavgiftsloven) requires registration when taxable turnover exceeds NOK 50,000 in any 12-month period, under section 2-1(1). Charitable and non-profit organizations have a higher threshold of NOK 140,000.

What to do now

1. Identify which of your customers are public contracting authorities covered by the act.
2. Read the e-invoicing clause in each of those contracts.
3. Build invoice output in EHF or PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 for those buyers, and test it against the format rules before you send.

Next step

See the developer documentation for the invoice formats Space Invoices supports today.