Peppol Identifiers

Every participant on the Peppol network has a unique identifier. Understanding how these identifiers work is essential for successful document exchange.

Identifier Structure

A Peppol identifier consists of two parts:

{scheme}:{identifier}

For example:

0106:12345678 — Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KVK) number
9930:DE123456789 — German VAT number
0009:12345678900017 — French SIRET number

Common Identifier Schemes

The scheme code decides what the value means, so the wrong code makes an otherwise correct number unusable. Every name below is taken verbatim from OpenPeppol's published Electronic Address Scheme (EAS) code list, which is the only authority for what a code means. The tables cover the codes you are most likely to meet in Europe; the published list has 83.

The format of the value is set by whichever register or tax authority issues it, not by Peppol. This page states a format only where GoRoute itself enforces one — see Format Rules below — rather than guessing the rest.

European Schemes

Scheme	Official name	Identifies
`0007`	Organisationsnummer (Swedish legal entities)	🇸🇪 Sweden
`0088`	Global Location Number (EAN/GLN)	🌍 Global
`0096`	The Danish Business Authority — P-number (DK:P)	🇩🇰 Denmark, a production unit
`0106`	Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the Netherlands (KVK)	🇳🇱 Netherlands
`0130`	Directorates of the European Commission	🇪🇺 EU institutions
`0184`	The Danish Business Authority — CVR-number (DK:CVR)	🇩🇰 Denmark, the company itself
`0190`	Organisatie-identificatienummer (OIN)	🇳🇱 Netherlands, public bodies
`0192`	Organisasjonsnummer	🇳🇴 Norway
`0195`	Singapore Nationwide E-Invoice Framework (UEN)	🇸🇬 Singapore
`0196`	Icelandic identifier (kennitala)	🇮🇸 Iceland
`0198`	The Danish Business Authority — SE-number (DK:SE)	🇩🇰 Denmark, a VAT registration
`0200`	Legal entity code (Lithuania)	🇱🇹 Lithuania
`0201`	Codice Univoco Unità Organizzativa iPA	🇮🇹 Italy, public bodies
`0204`	Peppol-Leitweg-ID	🇩🇪 Germany, public bodies
`0208`	Numero d'entreprise / ondernemingsnummer (CBE/KBO)	🇧🇪 Belgium
`0209`	GS1 identification keys	🌍 Global
`0210`	Codice Fiscale	🇮🇹 Italy
`0211`	Partita IVA	🇮🇹 Italy
`0216`	OVTcode	🇫🇮 Finland
`0221`	The registered number of the qualified invoice issuer	🇯🇵 Japan
`0230`	National e-Invoicing Framework (Malaysia)	🇲🇾 Malaysia

Three codes that are easy to get the wrong way round

0204 is the German Leitweg-ID, not a German VAT number — German VAT is 9930. 0209 is GS1, not the Leitweg-ID. 0211 is the Italian Partita IVA, not an IPA code — the Italian public-administration code is 0201.

VAT-based Schemes

These are the 99xx codes. Most of them are VAT numbers, but not all: three that this page used to list as national VAT schemes are something else entirely, and are named here as what they are.

Scheme	Official name	Identifies
`9910`	Hungary VAT number	🇭🇺 Hungary
`9914`	Österreichische Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer	🇦🇹 Austria
`9918`	S.W.I.F.T. — a bank identifier, not a VAT scheme	🌍 Global
`9919`	Kennziffer des Unternehmensregisters — the Austrian company-register number, not a VAT scheme	🇦🇹 Austria
`9920`	Agencia Española de Administración Tributaria	🇪🇸 Spain
`9922`	Andorra VAT number	🇦🇩 Andorra
`9923`	Albania VAT number	🇦🇱 Albania
`9924`	Bosnia and Herzegovina VAT number	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina
`9925`	Belgium VAT number	🇧🇪 Belgium
`9926`	Bulgaria VAT number	🇧🇬 Bulgaria
`9930`	Germany VAT number	🇩🇪 Germany
`9931`	Estonia VAT number	🇪🇪 Estonia
`9944`	Netherlands VAT number	🇳🇱 Netherlands
`9957`	French VAT number	🇫🇷 France
`9959`	US Employer ID Number — not a VAT scheme	🇺🇸 United States

Codes this page used to list that the EAS list no longer carries. Six codes that earlier revisions of this page presented as current have been withdrawn from the EAS list. They are kept here, labelled, rather than deleted, because you will still find them in older integrations and in counterparties' existing registrations.

Scheme	What it was used for	On the current list
`0213`	Estonian registry code	Estonian participants appear as `9931` (VAT number)
`0215`	Finnish Y-tunnus	`0216` (OVTcode) is the Finnish code on the list
`9906`	Italian VAT, `IT` + 11 digits	`0211` (Partita IVA)
`9917`	Dutch VAT	`9944` (Netherlands VAT number)
`9955`	Swedish VAT	No Swedish VAT code is on the list; use `0007` (Organisationsnummer)
`9956`	Belgian VAT, `BE` + 10 digits	`0208`, the enterprise number, which Belgium mandates for participants a service provider registers

GoRoute's own invoice validation still accepts five of the six, so a document carrying one is not rejected for that reason alone. The exception is 0215: it is not in GoRoute's accepted scheme list, and an invoice addressed with it fails EDEC_001 ("Invalid Peppol participant scheme"). Before you rely on any of the six, confirm which scheme the participant is actually registered under with participant lookup — do not assume.

Validating Identifiers

There is no identifier-validation endpoint

Earlier revisions of this page documented a GET route under /api/v1 that checked a scheme and identifier for format validity and returned valid, scheme_name and format_description. No such endpoint exists, and nothing in the API returns those fields.

Check identifier format in your own code against the format rules below. To find out whether an identifier is actually registered on the network, use participant lookup.

Identifier format is enforced only as part of validating a whole document — for example the country layer's COUNTRY_AU_001 (ABN must be 11 digits) and COUNTRY_AU_002 (ABN checksum) on POST /api/v1/invoices/validate. There is no way to ask about an identifier on its own.

Looking Up Participants

Check whether a participant is registered on Peppol:

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://app.goroute.ai/peppol-api/api/v1/participants/lookup",
    params={"peppol_id": "0106:12345678"},
    headers={"X-API-Key": "your_api_key"},
)

participant = response.json()

if participant["found"]:
    print("Confirmed:", participant["participant_id"], participant["country"])
    print("Can receive:", participant["capabilities"])
else:
    # found: false means the network did not confirm the participant. That
    # covers both "not registered" and "no registry answered", which this
    # endpoint reports identically — so do not tell anyone their identifier
    # is wrong on the strength of it.
    print("Not confirmed:", participant["message"])

One parameter, in scheme:value form

The lookup takes a single peppol_id (or its alias identifier) containing a colon — 0106:12345678. Passing scheme and identifier as two separate parameters does not work; a value without a colon returns 400 with Provide peppol_id as scheme:value, e.g. 0248:OM1100099003.

Identifier Requirements

Format Rules

Each scheme has specific format requirements:

Scheme	Length	Format	Check Digit
`0106`	8	Numeric only	No
`0192`	9	Numeric only	Modulo 11
`0208`	10	Numeric only	Modulo 97
`9930`	11	`DE` + 9 digits	Yes

Common Validation Errors

Common Mistakes

Including country prefix when not required (e.g., NL in KVK numbers)
Omitting country prefix when required (e.g., DE in German VAT)
Wrong number of digits
Including spaces or special characters

Best Practices

1. Validate Early

Always validate identifiers before storing:

import re

# Format rules are yours to enforce — see the table above.
SCHEME_FORMATS = {
    "0106": re.compile(r"^\d{8}$"),        # NL KVK
    "0192": re.compile(r"^\d{9}$"),        # NO Org.nr
    "0208": re.compile(r"^\d{10}$"),       # BE CBE
}


def is_well_formed(scheme: str, identifier: str) -> bool:
    """Check identifier format locally. There is no API for this."""
    pattern = SCHEME_FORMATS.get(scheme)
    return bool(pattern and pattern.match(identifier))


def network_confirmed(peppol_id: str) -> bool:
    """Whether the network confirmed the participant.

    peppol_id must be in scheme:value form. This is not the same question as
    "is this participant registered": False also comes back when no registry
    could be reached, and the lookup reports the two identically. Use it to
    decide whether to send, never to tell someone their identifier is wrong.
    """
    response = requests.get(
        f"{API_BASE}/api/v1/participants/lookup",
        params={"peppol_id": peppol_id},
        headers={"X-API-Key": API_KEY},
    )
    return response.json().get("found", False)

A False from network_confirmed is a reason to hold the document and try again later. See Participant Lookup for why the two cases cannot be told apart.

2. Normalize Before Storage

Store identifiers in a consistent format:

def normalize_identifier(scheme: str, identifier: str) -> str:
    """Normalize identifier for storage."""
    # Remove spaces and convert to uppercase
    identifier = identifier.replace(" ", "").upper()
    
    # Remove common separators
    identifier = identifier.replace("-", "").replace(".", "")
    
    return identifier

3. Use the Correct Scheme

Different schemes may cover the same organization:

# A Dutch company might be registered with:
# - 0106 (KVK number) - Preferred for Peppol
# - 0190 (OIN) - Government organizations
# - 9944 (Netherlands VAT number) - the VAT scheme on the current EAS list
#          (9917 is the withdrawn predecessor; older registrations still use it)

# Always check which scheme the receiver is registered with

Scheme Selection Guide

When should you use which scheme?

Country	B2B	B2G	Recommended
🇳🇱 Netherlands	0106	0190	0106 (KVK)
🇩🇪 Germany	9930	0204	9930 (VAT) for business buyers; the Leitweg-ID (0204) your public-sector buyer gives you
🇧🇪 Belgium	0208	0208	0208 (enterprise number) — the scheme Belgium requires for participants GoRoute registers
🇫🇷 France	0009	0009	0009 (SIRET)
🇮🇹 Italy	0210 or 0211	0201	0211 (Partita IVA) for business buyers; 0201 (Codice Univoco iPA) for public bodies
🇳🇴 Norway	0192	0192	0192 (Org.nr) — the only scheme Norway allows
🇸🇪 Sweden	0007	0007	0007 (Org.nr)

API Reference

Validate identifier

There is no such endpoint. See Validating Identifiers above.

Lookup participant

GET /api/v1/participants/lookup

Requires the participants:read permission.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
`peppol_id`	string	Yes (or `identifier`)	The full identifier in `scheme:value` form, e.g. `0106:12345678`
`identifier`	string	Accepted as an alias for `peppol_id`	Same `scheme:value` form

A value with no colon returns 400.

Response:

{
    "found": true,
    "participant_id": "0106:12345678",
    "name": "Example BV",
    "country": "NL",
    "capabilities": [
        "urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2::Invoice##urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:3.0::2.1"
    ],
    "message": null
}

The response is flat — there is no nested participant object, no registered_at, and the document types are in capabilities, not document_types. When the participant is not found, found is false and message explains why; the call still returns 200.

Identifier Structure​

Common Identifier Schemes​

European Schemes​

VAT-based Schemes​

Validating Identifiers​

Looking Up Participants​

Identifier Requirements​

Format Rules​

Common Validation Errors​

Best Practices​

1. Validate Early​

2. Normalize Before Storage​

3. Use the Correct Scheme​

Scheme Selection Guide​

API Reference​

Validate identifier​

Lookup participant​

Next Steps​