European Business Wallet for SMEs: what changes administratively
For SMEs operating within the EU, the European Business Wallet for SMEs could meaningfully simplify administration. Small and medium-sized enterprises make up 99 percent of all businesses in the European Union, and they are the ones who feel the impact of fragmented national procedures most when operating across borders. The European Commission expects the European Business Wallet for SMEs to structurally reduce hassle around onboarding, tenders, and permit applications.
What the European Business Wallet for SMEs actually offers
With a European Business Wallet, businesses can digitally prove their own identity and instantly verify that of others. The wallet makes it possible to create, store, and share trusted documents such as permits, licences, and certificates. Documents can be digitally signed, timestamped, or sealed. Businesses can also delegate others to act on their behalf with legal effect, and communicate securely with other businesses or public administrations through a single digital channel.
Less paperwork in onboarding, tenders, and permits
According to the European Commission, a single digital identity combined with a single communication channel toward public administrations means businesses operating across the EU experience up to 26 times less hassle than today. Actions that currently require paper or in-person handling gain the same legal effect when carried out digitally through the wallet. That affects processes that are especially time-consuming for SMEs: onboarding new customers and suppliers, going through tender procedures, applying for permits, and compliance checks such as anti-money-laundering (AML) procedures. Because the necessary data is available digitally and across borders, the need to be physically present or repeatedly resend documents disappears for many of these processes.
What the numbers say about the savings
The European Commission estimates that simplification measures around the European Business Wallet could save up to €5 billion in administrative costs by 2029. For European businesses as a whole, the wallet could unlock at least €160 billion in savings every year. Because SMEs make up by far the largest group of businesses in the EU, a substantial share of those savings lands with exactly the businesses that have the least budget for legal and administrative overhead.
Voluntary for businesses, mandatory for public administrations
A key principle of the legislative proposal is that use of the European Business Wallet remains voluntary for businesses. The obligation in the regulation applies solely to public sector bodies, which must be able to accept the wallet’s core functions. For SMEs, this means you can decide for yourself when and to what extent you adopt the European Business Wallet, without it becoming an obligation in the near term. At the same time, the more public administrations and larger trading partners accept the wallet, the greater the practical benefit becomes for businesses that use it.
Practical guide: what SMEs can do now
- Track the regulation: follow the development of the legislation and the expected implementation deadlines, so you are not caught off guard by obligations from public administrations you work with.
- Map your processes: identify which parts of your business still require heavy paperwork or repeated identity checks, such as customer onboarding or tenders.
- Choose future-proof software: when selecting service providers, consider compatibility with digital identity solutions.
- Secure your e-invoicing: make sure your process via Peppol is in order. The European Business Wallet does not replace this network, but may sit alongside it as an identity layer in the future.
What this means for your business
As long as the regulation has not been formally adopted, SMEs do not need to take any action to comply with the European Business Wallet. Still, it is wise to map out processes with heavy administrative overhead now, so you can benefit immediately once the wallet becomes available. A solid foundation is a reliable Peppol Service Provider for your e-invoicing, since identity and addressing solutions such as the European Business Wallet are expected to work alongside existing networks like Peppol. Read more in European Business Wallet e-invoicing: the architectural solution.
Compare Peppol Service Providers on Peppol.now and choose a solution that grows with future EU regulation.
Sources
- European Commission, “European Business Wallets”, Shaping Europe’s digital future
- European Commission, press release “Simpler EU digital rules and new digital wallets to save billions for businesses and boost innovation”
- European Parliament, Legislative Train Schedule: “European business wallets”
- WE BUILD Consortium
