The saving of up to 9,000 million sheets of paper makes the Electronic Invoice an important advance in the defense of the Environment. With Facturae, the ministries of Economy and Finance, and Industry, Tourism and Commerce guarantee a free, open format with the maximum guarantees. Savings for companies will improve their competitiveness and productivity. The Public Sector Contracts Law will make the use of the Electronic Invoice mandatory with the Public Administration. Spain leads the development of the Electronic Invoice in Europe.

February 6, 2008. The Deputy Director General for Information and Communication Technologies at the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Miguel F. Azorín, and the Director of Taxation IT, Santiago Segarra, today presented Facturae, the e-invoice format that has been developed jointly by both organisms. According to estimates, in Spain 4.5 billion invoices are produced per year, with savings per invoice, when preparing them electronically, of 3.4 euros. Therefore, using e-invoices represents potential savings per year of more than 15 billion euros for the Spanish economy, 1.5% of the country’s GDP.

The aim of the Public Administration with Facturae is to create a free of charge, open template, with the guarantee of the Tax Agency and the State Secretariat for Telecommunications and the Information Society, which can also be maintained and adapted to international standards. The savings obtained from using e-invoices will be dedicated to improvements in the competitiveness and productivity of Spanish companies. Furthermore, this initiative helps to protect the environment and promotes sustainable development by refraining from consuming up to 9,000 million sheets of paper per year.

Thanks to Facturae, Spain is the first European country in which the Administration has created a free of charge, open invoice template guaranteed by the Administration, while at the same time leading work at an EU level in this area.

A website has been created to promote its development and dissemination: Facturae.es where a free program is available for managing e-invoicing and a directory with companies and administrations that now use it. The user help line is 902 112 214. Its use with the Public Administration is now mandatory thanks to the new Public Sector Contracts Law.