Peppol SML insourcing: Access Points must migrate before 31 August
Brussels, 5 July 2026 – OpenPeppol is completing Peppol SML insourcing this year: the Service Metadata Locator, until now managed by the European Commission (DG DIGIT), is moving fully under OpenPeppol’s own management. For Peppol Serviceproviders and their Access Points, this brings a firm technical deadline on 31 August 2026.
What exactly is changing
The Service Metadata Locator (SML) is the technical layer that determines how Access Points find each other within the Peppol network, via DNS lookup. With Peppol SML insourcing, OpenPeppol is taking over this infrastructure from the European Commission and will manage the DNS lookup domains itself. The migration window opened on 19 March 2026. SMP (Service Metadata Publisher) registrations already had to be moved to the new SML registration endpoint before 31 May 2026. The next and final step is that Access Points must have migrated their DNS lookup domains to the new, OpenPeppol-managed domains by 31 August 2026 at the latest.
Why OpenPeppol is taking this in-house
The move fits a broader trend in which OpenPeppol is taking increasingly direct operational control over critical network components, rather than remaining dependent on European Commission infrastructure. Little changes on the surface for how the Peppol network itself functions: invoices will keep flowing between trading partners in the same way. The main risk lies in the transition period, where misconfigured DNS settings could lead to undeliverable messages.
What this means for Peppol Serviceproviders and their customers
This update is primarily relevant for Peppol Serviceproviders that operate their own Access Point: they need to take active steps before 31 August 2026 to migrate their DNS lookup domains. Businesses that receive e-invoicing services through a serviceprovider do not need to do anything themselves, but should check with their supplier that migration is on track, especially if delivery issues are reported around that date. Anyone looking for a Peppol Serviceprovider with up-to-date, correctly migrated infrastructure can compare current providers via the Peppol.nu comparison tool. More background on how the Peppol network is technically structured can be found in our guide to Peppol invoices.
Peppol SML insourcing is a technical, behind-the-scenes change, but with a concrete deadline that serviceproviders cannot ignore. Peppol.now continues to track this and similar infrastructure changes on behalf of the Dutch and Belgian market.
