Peppol network participants climb past 6 million as Belgium and France push registrations up by almost 23 percent

Brussels, 26 August 2026 – The number of Peppol network participants has crossed six million for the first time. On 12 August 2026 the network counted 6,158,601 registered participants. On 13 July 2026 the figure stood at 5,009,070. That means 1,149,531 registrations were added in thirty days, an increase of roughly 22.95 percent. Two national reforms account for most of that jump: the Belgian obligation to issue structured business-to-business e-invoices and the run-up to the first phase of the French reform on 1 September 2026.

Peppol network participants: the numbers

The growth curve in the network statistics is steeper than anything recorded in previous years. Where the network long expanded gradually along the lines of public procurement and voluntary adoption, the current surge is concentrated in a four-week window.

• 13 July 2026: 5,009,070 registered participants
• 12 August 2026: 6,158,601 registered participants
• Increase: 1,149,531 registrations
• Growth: approximately 22.95 percent in thirty days

Why Belgium sets the pace

Since 1 January 2026, Belgium requires structured e-invoicing for domestic B2B transactions between VAT-liable businesses established in Belgium. Peppol serves as the transmission network and Peppol BIS as the reference format. As a result, every company in scope, however small, has to arrange a route onto the network.

One detail matters for businesses that believe they are already compliant: in Belgium, a PDF sent by e-mail does not by itself qualify as a structured e-invoice. The requirement concerns machine-readable data in an agreed format, not a document that merely looks digital. That distinction explains why the registration wave is not limited to large companies with existing EDI infrastructure.

In this phase Belgium operates a 4-corner Peppol model. Sender and receiver each connect through a Peppol Serviceprovider, and the invoice travels across the network from access point to access point. Extending the model towards reporting to the tax authority is a 2028 ambition and is therefore not part of the current obligation. We covered the Belgian draft law on e-reporting earlier, as well as Belgium becoming the world’s largest Peppol country.

France: a different model, the same spike

The first phase of the French reform starts on 1 September 2026. From that date, companies in scope must be able to receive e-invoices through an approved platform. Large and medium-sized enterprises must also be able to send. For smaller businesses, the sending obligation applies from 1 September 2027.

France is not a direct copy of the Belgian model. Invoices and mandatory transaction data flow through the Plateformes Agréées, the platforms approved by the French tax administration. Peppol plays a role in that landscape as an interoperable transport channel, but the French architecture places control firmly with the approved platform. That difference matters for Dutch and Belgian businesses invoicing French customers: being connected to the network is not automatically the same as meeting French requirements.

What the figure does and does not tell you

A six million milestone comes with a caveat that is easily skipped. Peppol counts participant identifiers, not unique legal entities. A single company can hold several identifiers, for example per location, per administration or per invoice flow. The total is therefore not a company count.

Publication in the Peppol Directory is also not mandatory. As a consequence, the Directory does not necessarily contain every registered recipient. Anyone using the Directory to check whether a trading partner is reachable may get an empty result even though that partner is in fact connected. Treat the total as an indicator of network reach rather than an exact measure of connected organisations.

What this means for organisations in the Netherlands and Belgium

For finance and IT leaders there are three practical consequences.

1. Trading partner reachability is rising fast. The likelihood that a Belgian or French customer or supplier can be reached through the network has increased sharply in a short period. That lowers the threshold for standardising outbound invoicing on Peppol instead of maintaining a separate route per relationship.
2. Address books and master data deserve a review. With registrations arriving at this pace, partner reachability changes faster than most accounts payable and receivable systems keep up with. Periodic revalidation of identifiers prevents rejected or duplicated invoices.
3. Provider capacity is under pressure. More than a million registrations in a single month also affects the onboarding schedules of service providers. Organisations planning to connect or migrate this autumn should avoid pushing the project into the final quarter.

The curve is expected to rise further in 2027. New phases in the United Arab Emirates, Slovakia and Norway take effect, while the French sending obligation extends to smaller companies. The count of Peppol network participants is therefore less a final score than an interim reading: every country that activates a mandate shifts the centre of gravity of the network again. Organisations that align their invoicing flows with the network now will not have to do so under time pressure later.

Sources

1. Peppol-ID, network statistics
2. Peppol Directory
3. OpenPeppol, guidance on the Peppol Directory
4. Belgian government, structured e-invoicing between businesses mandatory since 2026
5. Direction générale des Finances publiques, facturation électronique et plateformes agréées
6. VATupdate, Peppol network exceeds six million participants (20 August 2026)

Choose the right route onto the network

Ready to join the more than six million Peppol network participants with a provider that fits your volume, systems and international invoice flows? Compare the options in our overview of Peppol providers and make a connection choice that still holds up after the next wave of mandates.