“Can I take my Peppol ID to another service provider?” – Why this should be simpler
Last week, I received a phone call at Peppol.nu from a Belgian entrepreneur. He had once tried an invoicing portal solution from a Peppol service provider, but now wanted to purchase a Peppol connection through a different Peppol Service Provider. “Simple, right?” he thought. “Just take my Peppol ID with me and done.”
To his surprise, the process turned out to be anything but simple. In fact, he discovered that his Peppol ID wasn’t “his” in the same way his domain name or phone number was. It turned out to be registered in his current provider’s system, and switching would become an entire administrative process in which he was dependent on the cooperation of both parties.
“How is this possible?” he asked bewildered. “When I want to switch web hosts, I simply request a transfer code, enter it at my new host, and done. Why is this so much more complicated with Peppol?”
It’s an excellent question. And honestly: he’s right. In this article, I’ll explain how it works now, why this is problematic, and – more importantly – how it could be much better. Because the current situation creates unnecessary vendor lock-in and hampers the free competition that is so important for a healthy market.
First the basics: What is a Peppol ID anyway?
Before we delve deeper into the problem, let’s go back to basics. A Peppol ID (also called Peppol Participant Identifier) is your unique address within the Peppol network. It essentially works like a postal address for electronic documents.
Format of a Peppol ID:
A Peppol ID consists of two parts:
- Schema ID: The type of identification (for example
0106for Chamber of Commerce number in the Netherlands, or9956for VAT number) - Participant ID: The actual number (for example your Chamber of Commerce number
12345678)
Together they form something like: 0106:12345678
This Peppol ID is used by other companies that want to invoice you via the Peppol network. They send their invoice to this address, and the Peppol network ensures it reaches you – just like the postal system delivers a letter to your physical address.
How does it work now? The role of the SMP
This is where it gets technical, but it’s important to understand why switching is so difficult. Within the Peppol network, there’s something called the SMP – the Service Metadata Publisher. Think of the SMP as a kind of phone book or address book for the Peppol network.
The function of an SMP: When a supplier wants to send an invoice to you, the following happens:
- They know your Peppol ID (for example
0106:12345678) - Their system queries the SMP network: “Where should I send this invoice?”
- The SMP system responds: “This Peppol ID is registered with Access Point X of service provider Y”
- The invoice is then sent via the network to that specific Access Point
- Your service provider receives the invoice and delivers it to you
And here lies the problem:
Each Peppol service provider manages its own SMP. When you become their customer, they register your Peppol ID in their own SMP system. They own that SMP, they manage it, and all Peppol IDs of their customers are registered in it.
This means in practice that your Peppol ID is “locked” to the infrastructure of your current service provider.
This means in practice that your Peppol ID is “stuck” to your current service provider’s infrastructure.
The switching process: How complex is it now?
Let’s look at what needs to happen if you want to switch to another Peppol service provider. I’ll take you through the necessary steps.
Step 1: Contact your current provider
You need to let your current service provider know that you want to switch. This seems logical, but here’s where it starts:
Possible complication: Some providers have notice periods in their contracts. You might be locked in for months.
What you encounter:
- “Why do you want to leave?” questions you’d rather not answer
- Retention attempts: offers to stay, discounts, improvements
- Slow responses – especially if the provider isn’t happy you’re leaving
Step 2: Contact your new provider
You’ve chosen a new service provider and want to join them.
What needs to happen:
- Go through onboarding process with new provider
- Sign contracts
- Possibly set up new invoicing software or connections
- Explain that you have an existing Peppol ID you want to take with you
Step 3: The technical transfer
Now comes the difficult part. Two things need to happen:
A. De-registration with old provider: Your old service provider must remove your Peppol ID from their SMP. This is called “de-registering” or “unpublishing”.
Complications:
- This is a manual action by your old provider
- There’s no standardized deadline within which this must happen
- If your old provider is unwilling or slow, this can take days to weeks
- Some providers even charge a fee for this
B. Registration with new provider: Your new service provider must register your Peppol ID in their own SMP.
Complications:
- Technically, this can only happen after the old registration is removed
- Otherwise you get an error message: “This Peppol ID is already registered with another service provider”
- So the timing must be perfect
Step 4: The dangerous time window
This is where it gets really problematic. A critical time window emerges between de-registration with your old provider and registration with your new provider.
What happens during this window:
- Your Peppol ID technically no longer exists in the network
- Suppliers who try to send an invoice to your Peppol ID during this period receive an error message
- Their systems report: “Unknown Peppol ID” or “Participant not found”
- These invoices do not arrive
- Your suppliers must send the invoice another way (email, paper)
The practical impact: Imagine you’re a medium-sized company with 50 suppliers invoicing via Peppol. If the transfer takes 3 days, and 10 of those suppliers happen to invoice during that period, then:
- 10 invoices miss their automatic route
- 10 suppliers must fall back on manual sending
- Your accounts payable department must manually process 10 invoices instead of automatically
- Confusion arises among both suppliers and your own administration
Step 5: Communication to suppliers
After the transfer, you should really inform all your suppliers that your Peppol ID is now with a new provider.
Why is this necessary? Technically it’s not necessary – the SMP network automatically handles routing to your new provider. BUT: some systems cache SMP information, meaning they hold onto the old Access Point address for a while.
What you need to do:
- Email to all suppliers: “Our Peppol ID is unchanged, but we’re now with a new service provider”
- Ask them to refresh any caches
- Watch the first invoices after the switch extra carefully
Step 6: Monitoring and follow-up
The first weeks after the switch, you need to be extra alert:
Checkpoints:
- Are all invoices still arriving?
- Are suppliers reporting problems?
- Are all system integrations still working?
- Is the routing via the SMP correctly updated?
The real problems with the current situation
Now that you know the process, let’s look at why this is so problematic – not just practically, but also in principle.
Problem 1: Vendor lock-in
This is the biggest problem. The current architecture unintentionally creates a form of vendor lock-in:
Why it’s difficult to leave:
- You depend on your old provider’s cooperation for de-registration
- The switching process is complex and risky (that time window where invoices can be lost)
- You must coordinate multiple parties
- There’s downtime when you’re not reachable
The consequence:
Entrepreneurs stay with a service provider longer than they actually want to, simply because switching is too much hassle. This is bad for competition and artificially maintains prices and service quality at a certain level.
Comparison with other services:
- Mobile telephony: Number portability takes one day, provider must legally cooperate
- Domain names: Request transfer code, enter at new host, done in a few hours
- Bank account: IBAN stays the same, you can even use the switching service
- Energy: Switch is arranged by new supplier, you do almost nothing
With Peppol, switching is more difficult than all these services, even though technically it doesn’t have to be.
Problem 2: No standard transfer procedure
There’s no standardized, mandatory procedure for transferring a Peppol ID. This means:
Variation per provider:
- Provider A de-registers within 24 hours
- Provider B has a “processing time of 5 working days”
- Provider C charges a €50 fee for de-registration
- Provider D tries to keep you with special offers and drags things out
No legal protection:
- There’s no deadline within which the old provider must cooperate
- There’s no guarantee it will be quick
- There’s no oversight of abuse of the power position
Problem 3: Risk of downtime
That critical time window between de-registration and re-registration is unavoidable with the current architecture. This isn’t just annoying, but can also have financial consequences:
Possible damage:
- Missed invoices that must later be manually processed (extra costs)
- Delayed payments because invoices don’t arrive
- Loss of automation benefits (temporarily back to manual work)
- Reputational damage with suppliers experiencing problems
For a large company receiving dozens of invoices daily via Peppol, a week-long switching period can cause significant operational problems.
Problem 4: Barrier to market functioning
The complexity of switching slows healthy competition:
Impact on the market:
- New, innovative service providers struggle to attract customers
- Existing providers have little incentive to improve or lower prices
- Customers remain “stuck” with mediocre service
- The market becomes less dynamic than it could be
This is bad for entrepreneurs because it means they can’t optimally benefit from technological progress and market competition.
How it can be better: Lessons from the domain name industry
Now we get to the heart of this article: it doesn’t have to be this complex. There’s a working model we can use as inspiration: the domain name industry.
Let’s look at how that works in the Netherlands, and how we can apply this model to Peppol.
The domain model: How does it work?
In the Netherlands, the .nl domain space is managed by SIDN (Foundation for Internet Domain Registration in the Netherlands). The system works as follows:
The roles:
1. SIDN (the registrar) – the central authority
- Manages the central registration of all .nl domain names
- Publishes the .nl zone file in the DNS (Domain Name System)
- Determines rules and standards
- Ensures a level playing field
2. Web hosting companies / domain registrars – the service providers
- Offer services to end customers (hosting, email, etc.)
- Can register domain names with SIDN on behalf of their customers
- Compete on price, service, functionality
- Have no “ownership” of their customers’ domains
3. Companies and individuals – the end users
- Register domain names via a web host of choice
- Own their domain name
- Can freely switch between providers
How does a domain transfer work?
The process is elegant and efficient:
Step 1: Request transfer code You log into your current web host and request a transfer code (also called “auth-code” or “EPP-code”) for your domain name. This code is generated within minutes.
Step 2: Enter transfer code at new host You give the transfer code to your new web host. They enter it with SIDN.
Step 3: Automatic transfer SIDN processes the transfer. The domain name is transferred in the central registration to the new provider. This happens automatically without human intervention.
Step 4: Done Your domain name simply continues working throughout the process. There’s no downtime. Visitors notice nothing.
Duration: Usually within 24 hours, sometimes even within a few hours.
Important characteristics:
- No permission from old host needed – only the transfer code
- No downtime – the domain name keeps working
- Automated – no human actions at old or new host
- Fast – typically within one day
- Affordable – often no extra costs
The crucial differences with Peppol
Let’s put the two systems side by side:
| Aspect | Domain names (.nl) | Peppol (now) | Peppol (how it should be) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central registration | SIDN manages all .nl domains | Each provider manages own SMP | Peppol Authority manages central SMP |
| Ownership | Customer owns domain | Peppol ID is in provider’s SMP | Customer owns Peppol ID |
| Transfer method | Transfer code, automated | Manual de-registration + re-registration | Transfer code, automated |
| Downtime | None | Yes, critical time window | None |
| Old provider cooperation | Not needed (except transfer code) | Required for de-registration | Not needed (except transfer code) |
| Duration | 1-24 hours | Days to weeks | 1-24 hours |
| Vendor lock-in | Minimal | Significant | Minimal |
The proposal: A central, independent SMP system
Here comes my plea for change. I propose that we restructure the Peppol system to a model more like the domain name industry. This would involve the following:
A new architecture for Peppol
1. Central SMP registration Instead of each service provider managing their own SMP, there should be one central, independent SMP system, managed by the Peppol Authority of each country.
For the Netherlands this would mean:
- The Dutch Peppol Authority (appointed by the government or the industry) manages one central SMP
- All Dutch Peppol IDs are registered in this central system
- The central SMP contains for each Peppol ID a reference to the current service provider
Analogous to: SIDN centrally registering all .nl domains and publishing the DNS zone file.
Analogous to: SIDN centrally registering all .nl domains and publishing the DNS zone file.
2. Service providers as “web hosting companies” Peppol service providers would function like web hosting companies:
- They offer services (invoicing software, support, integrations)
- They have a Peppol Access Point (comparable to a web host’s mail server)
- They can register Peppol IDs in the central SMP on behalf of their customers
- They have no ownership of their customers’ Peppol IDs
The transfer process in the new model
Let’s walk through how a switch would work with this new architecture:
Step 1: Request transfer code You log into your current Peppol service provider’s portal and request a transfer code for your Peppol ID. It’s automatically generated.
Why simple:
- Automated process, no human intervention needed
- Immediately available, no waiting time
- Legally required to be provided within 24 hours (like domain names)
Step 2: Onboarding with new provider You sign up with your new Peppol service provider and indicate during the onboarding process that you have an existing Peppol ID. You enter the transfer code.
Step 3: Automatic transfer via central SMP The new provider sends the transfer code to the central SMP system. The system:
- Validates the transfer code
- Verifies it belongs to the correct Peppol ID
- Verifies the code is still valid (not expired, not already used)
- Updates the central registration: the Peppol ID is now linked to the new provider’s Access Point
- Automatically informs both old and new provider
Step 4: Done – no downtime The entire process is complete. Your Peppol ID remains reachable during the transfer:
- The central SMP is atomically updated (in one transaction)
- There’s no time window when the Peppol ID isn’t reachable
- Invoices sent during the transfer simply arrive
Duration: 1-24 hours, fully automated.
The advantages of this new model
Let’s look at what this new architecture solves:
1. Elimination of vendor lock-in
- Switching is as easy as with a domain name
- Old provider cannot block or delay the transfer
- Customers have real freedom of choice
2. No downtime during transfer
- The central SMP is updated at once
- There’s no dangerous time window
- Invoices keep arriving
3. Speed
- Transfer within 24 hours instead of days or weeks
- Automated process without manual steps
- Predictable procedure for everyone
4. Fair competition
- Service providers must compete on price, quality and service
- Innovative newcomers get a fair chance
- Existing players cannot artificially retain customers
- The market becomes more dynamic and efficient
5. Transparency
- Clear, uniform procedures for everyone
- No ambiguity about rights and responsibilities
- Protection of the end user
6. Scalability for the future
- With mandatory e-invoicing in more and more countries, millions of companies will get a Peppol ID
- A central, automated system scales much better than decentralized SMPs per provider
- Administrative burden of switching remains manageable
What needs to happen for this change?
This isn’t a small adjustment – it’s a fundamental revision of how Peppol infrastructure works. But it’s not impossible. Here’s what’s needed:
1. Support from Peppol Authorities National Peppol Authorities (in the Netherlands not yet formally designated, but in the works) must embrace this vision. They have the power to change standards and rules.
2. Technical implementation A central SMP system must be built and managed. This isn’t technically particularly complex – the domain registration system is more complicated. The challenge lies more in governance and financing.
3. Migration of existing registrations All existing Peppol IDs currently spread across hundreds of provider SMPs must be migrated to the central system. This requires:
- Coordinated migration planning
- Cooperation from all existing service providers
- Communication to all end users
- A transition period where both systems coexist
4. Legal anchoring Ideally, the right to transferability is legally established, just like with phone numbers and domain names. This could be done in the national implementation of the EU ViDA directive.
5. Financing The central SMP system must be financed. Possible models:
- Small registration fee per Peppol ID (like domain names)
- Government subsidy (as part of business digitalization)
- Contribution from connected service providers
A realistic roadmap
What would such a transition look like in practice? Here’s a possible timeline:
2025: Exploration and support
- National Peppol Authorities start working group
- Consultation with service providers, end users, industry organizations
- Map technical feasibility
- Develop business case and financing model
2026: Pilot phase
- Development of central SMP platform
- Pilot project with small group of voluntary service providers
- Testing of transfer process
- Refining procedures
2027: Phased rollout
- Start migration of existing Peppol IDs to central system
- New registrations go through new system
- Old and new systems work in parallel (hybrid period)
- Communication campaign to end users
2028: Full implementation
- All existing Peppol IDs migrated
- Old decentralized SMPs phased out
- Standard transfer procedure for everyone
- Legal anchoring of rights and obligations
This is ambitious, but achievable. The domain name industry went through a similar transition when the ICANN system was introduced. It can be done, if there is sufficient will.
What can you do now?
As an entrepreneur, integration specialist, or other stakeholder in the Peppol ecosystem, you can contribute to this change:
1. Make it discussable
- Share this article with your network
- Discuss the problem with your current service provider
- Ask your industry association to put the topic on the agenda
2. Give feedback to Peppol Authorities If a formal Peppol Authority is designated in the Netherlands, make your voice heard. Indicate that transferability of Peppol IDs is important to you.
3. Encourage best practices Until there’s a structural solution, you can demand that service providers:
- Use transparent switching procedures
- Execute de-registration within 5 working days
- Charge no costs for de-registration
- Provide clear information about the process
4. Consciously choose your service provider When choosing a Peppol service provider, explicitly ask:
- “What’s your procedure if I want to switch?”
- “How long does de-registration take?”
- “Do you charge costs for de-registration?”
- “Do you cooperate in a smooth transfer?”
Service providers giving good answers to these questions deserve preference.
Conclusion: The time is ripe for change
The entrepreneur from Utrecht I mentioned at the beginning of this article was right to be frustrated. Switching Peppol service providers shouldn’t be this complex.
We have a wonderful, international network for electronic document exchange with Peppol. The technical infrastructure works well. But the way Peppol IDs are managed – decentralized, with ownership at service providers instead of end users – creates unnecessary barriers.
The current situation:
- Vendor lock-in
- Complex switching process
- Downtime risk
- Limited market competition
The desired future:
- Freedom of choice
- Simple, automated switching process
- No downtime
- Healthy competition
The domain name industry showed us 25 years ago how it can be done. It’s time for Peppol to embrace these lessons. With the coming wave of mandatory e-invoicing across Europe – Belgium in 2026, France in 2026, Slovenia in 2027, and EU-wide via ViDA in 2030 – millions of companies will get a Peppol ID. Let’s now lay the foundation for a system that truly works for end users.
Because ultimately, that’s what it’s about: Peppol exists for the entrepreneurs who work with it daily. It should serve them, not limit them.
Have questions about Peppol, or want to contribute to the conversation about this architectural change? Contact us via Peppol.nu. To compare different Peppol service providers, check our overview of Peppol suppliers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take my Peppol ID with me when switching now? Technically yes. If a Peppol ID is linked to your company name, there’s even no other choice. However, it’s a complex process where you depend on the cooperation of your old and new service provider. There’s no standardized procedure and often a period when your Peppol ID isn’t reachable.
How long does switching take on average now? This varies greatly per service provider, but typically between 3-10 working days. In the worst case, it can take weeks if your old provider doesn’t cooperate.
Can my current provider refuse to transfer my Peppol ID? Formally, your provider should cooperate, but there’s no legal obligation or clear deadline. This gives providers considerable power.
What does it cost to transfer my Peppol ID? Some providers charge an administrative fee (€25-€100), others do it for free. There’s no standard.
Why did Peppol choose this architecture? The current model grew historically when Peppol was still small. Each service provider managed their own infrastructure, including SMP. It wasn’t foreseen that this would create vendor lock-in.
Are there countries where it works differently? Most countries use the decentralized SMP model. There are initiatives for centralized alternatives, but these aren’t yet mainstream.
What happens if my old service provider goes bankrupt? This is one of the biggest risks of the current system. If your provider ceases to exist, your Peppol ID can become unreachable. There are emergency procedures, but these aren’t foolproof.
What about my Chamber of Commerce extract as identification? Your Peppol ID is often based on your Chamber of Commerce number (schema 0106), but the Peppol ID itself and its registration in an SMP are separate matters. You’re always the owner of your Chamber of Commerce number, but not necessarily of the Peppol registration thereof.
Where can I find more information about SMP technology? The technical specifications are available via OpenPeppol. Search for “Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) specification” on the Peppol website.
Where can I check if I already have a Peppol ID registered? On our website there’s a user-friendly version of the Peppol Directory, the Peppol Address Book.
What can I do to help realize this change?
- Discuss the topic with your industry association
- Share this article in your network
- Ask your service provider for a clear switching policy
- Make your voice heard in future consultations about Peppol governance in the Netherlands
Sources
Peppol Technical Documentation
- OpenPeppol – Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) Specifications
- OpenPeppol – Peppol eDelivery Network Specifications
- OpenPeppol – Transport Infrastructure
Domain Name Registration & SIDN
- SIDN – Foundation for Internet Domain Registration in the Netherlands
- SIDN – Transfer domain name
- SIDN – Registrars
- ICANN – Domain Name Transfer Policy
E-invoicing Mandates Europe
- Belgian e-invoicing mandate from January 2026
- France becomes Peppol Authority (July 2025)
- European Commission – VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA)

