Globalization

GoRoute supports sending invoices across the global Peppol network with proper localization for different countries, languages, and currencies. This guide covers how to handle international invoicing requirements.

Multi-Currency Support

Supported Currencies

Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 supports all ISO 4217 currency codes. Common currencies include:

Code	Currency	Symbol
EUR	Euro	€
USD	US Dollar	$
GBP	British Pound	£
SEK	Swedish Krona	kr
NOK	Norwegian Krone	kr
DKK	Danish Krone	kr
CHF	Swiss Franc	CHF
PLN	Polish Zloty	zł
SGD	Singapore Dollar	S$
AUD	Australian Dollar	A$

Setting Invoice Currency

<Invoice xmlns="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2">
  <!-- Document currency (for line amounts and totals) -->
  <cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>EUR</cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>
  
  <!-- Tax currency if different from document currency -->
  <cbc:TaxCurrencyCode>EUR</cbc:TaxCurrencyCode>
  
  <!-- ... -->
</Invoice>

Multi-Currency Invoices

When the tax reporting currency differs from the invoice currency:

<cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>USD</cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>
<cbc:TaxCurrencyCode>EUR</cbc:TaxCurrencyCode>

<cac:TaxTotal>
  <!-- Tax in document currency (USD) -->
  <cbc:TaxAmount currencyID="USD">1200.00</cbc:TaxAmount>
</cac:TaxTotal>

<cac:TaxTotal>
  <!-- Tax in reporting currency (EUR) -->
  <cbc:TaxAmount currencyID="EUR">1100.00</cbc:TaxAmount>
</cac:TaxTotal>

Multi-Language Support

Invoice Notes and Descriptions

Include multiple languages in text fields using the languageID attribute:

<cbc:Note languageID="en">Payment due within 30 days</cbc:Note>
<cbc:Note languageID="nl">Betaling binnen 30 dagen</cbc:Note>
<cbc:Note languageID="de">Zahlung innerhalb von 30 Tagen</cbc:Note>

Item Descriptions

<cac:InvoiceLine>
  <cac:Item>
    <cbc:Description languageID="en">Professional consulting services</cbc:Description>
    <cbc:Description languageID="fr">Services de conseil professionnel</cbc:Description>
    <cbc:Name>Consulting Services</cbc:Name>
  </cac:Item>
</cac:InvoiceLine>

Supported Languages

Code	Language
`en`	English
`nl`	Dutch
`de`	German
`fr`	French
`it`	Italian
`es`	Spanish
`pt`	Portuguese
`pl`	Polish
`sv`	Swedish
`no`	Norwegian
`da`	Danish
`fi`	Finnish

Country-Specific Localization

Tax Identification

Different countries require different tax identifier formats:

<!-- Netherlands (BTW) -->
<cac:PartyTaxScheme>
  <cbc:CompanyID>NL123456789B01</cbc:CompanyID>
  <cac:TaxScheme>
    <cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID>
  </cac:TaxScheme>
</cac:PartyTaxScheme>

<!-- Italy (Partita IVA + Codice Fiscale) -->
<cac:PartyTaxScheme>
  <cbc:CompanyID>IT12345678901</cbc:CompanyID>
  <cac:TaxScheme>
    <cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID>
  </cac:TaxScheme>
</cac:PartyTaxScheme>
<cac:PartyLegalEntity>
  <cbc:CompanyID schemeID="0210">RSSMRA85M01H501Z</cbc:CompanyID>
</cac:PartyLegalEntity>

Address Formats

Addresses vary significantly by country:

<!-- German address -->
<cac:PostalAddress>
  <cbc:StreetName>Hauptstraße 42</cbc:StreetName>
  <cbc:CityName>Berlin</cbc:CityName>
  <cbc:PostalZone>10115</cbc:PostalZone>
  <cac:Country>
    <cbc:IdentificationCode>DE</cbc:IdentificationCode>
  </cac:Country>
</cac:PostalAddress>

<!-- UK address (with county) -->
<cac:PostalAddress>
  <cbc:StreetName>10 Downing Street</cbc:StreetName>
  <cbc:CityName>London</cbc:CityName>
  <cbc:PostalZone>SW1A 2AA</cbc:PostalZone>
  <cbc:CountrySubentity>Greater London</cbc:CountrySubentity>
  <cac:Country>
    <cbc:IdentificationCode>GB</cbc:IdentificationCode>
  </cac:Country>
</cac:PostalAddress>

<!-- Singapore address (with building name) -->
<cac:PostalAddress>
  <cbc:StreetName>1 Raffles Place</cbc:StreetName>
  <cbc:AdditionalStreetName>One Raffles Place Tower 1</cbc:AdditionalStreetName>
  <cbc:CityName>Singapore</cbc:CityName>
  <cbc:PostalZone>048616</cbc:PostalZone>
  <cac:Country>
    <cbc:IdentificationCode>SG</cbc:IdentificationCode>
  </cac:Country>
</cac:PostalAddress>

Date and Time Formats

ISO 8601 Dates

All dates in UBL must use ISO 8601 format:

<!-- Date only (YYYY-MM-DD) -->
<cbc:IssueDate>2026-01-26</cbc:IssueDate>
<cbc:DueDate>2026-02-26</cbc:DueDate>

<!-- Date with time (for timestamps) -->
<cbc:IssueTime>10:30:00</cbc:IssueTime>

Timezone Handling

GoRoute processes all times in UTC. Include timezone information for clarity:

<cbc:IssueDate>2026-01-26</cbc:IssueDate>
<cbc:IssueTime>10:30:00+01:00</cbc:IssueTime>

Number Formatting

Decimal Precision

Use periods as decimal separators and maintain precision:

<!-- Correct -->
<cbc:PriceAmount currencyID="EUR">1234.56</cbc:PriceAmount>
<cbc:BaseQuantity unitCode="C62">1.00</cbc:BaseQuantity>

<!-- Incorrect (comma decimal separator) -->
<cbc:PriceAmount currencyID="EUR">1234,56</cbc:PriceAmount>

Quantity Units

Use UN/ECE Recommendation 20 unit codes:

Code	Unit	Description
`C62`	Unit	One piece/item
`HUR`	Hour	Hourly rate
`DAY`	Day	Daily rate
`MON`	Month	Monthly rate
`KGM`	Kilogram	Weight
`MTR`	Meter	Length
`LTR`	Liter	Volume
`EA`	Each	Each item

<cbc:InvoicedQuantity unitCode="HUR">40.00</cbc:InvoicedQuantity>
<cbc:LineExtensionAmount currencyID="EUR">4000.00</cbc:LineExtensionAmount>

Country-Specific Rules (CIUS)

Some countries have additional requirements beyond standard Peppol BIS:

Germany (XRechnung)

<!-- Buyer Reference is mandatory -->
<cbc:BuyerReference>04011000-12345-67</cbc:BuyerReference>

<!-- Leitweg-ID required for public sector -->
<cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
  <cac:Party>
    <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="9930">04011000-12345-67</cbc:EndpointID>
  </cac:Party>
</cac:AccountingCustomerParty>

Italy (FatturaPA)

<!-- Codice Destinatario -->
<cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
  <cac:Party>
    <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="0201">A1B2C3D</cbc:EndpointID>
  </cac:Party>
</cac:AccountingCustomerParty>

<!-- Regime Fiscale -->
<cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
  <cac:Party>
    <cac:PartyTaxScheme>
      <cbc:TaxLevelCode>RF01</cbc:TaxLevelCode>
    </cac:PartyTaxScheme>
  </cac:Party>
</cac:AccountingSupplierParty>

France (Factur-X)

<!-- SIRET number -->
<cac:PartyLegalEntity>
  <cbc:CompanyID schemeID="0009">12345678901234</cbc:CompanyID>
</cac:PartyLegalEntity>

API Localization

Setting Response Language

Request localized error messages and responses:

curl -X POST https://app.goroute.ai/peppol-api/documents/validate \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key" \
  -H "Accept-Language: nl-NL" \
  -d @invoice.xml

Localized Validation Messages

{
  "valid": false,
  "errors": [
    {
      "rule": "BR-16",
      "message": "Een factuur moet minimaal één factuurregel bevatten",
      "message_en": "An Invoice shall have at least one Invoice line"
    }
  ]
}

Best Practices

1. Use ISO Standards

Always use standardized codes:

Countries: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 (e.g., NL, DE)
Currencies: ISO 4217 (e.g., EUR, USD)
Languages: ISO 639-1 (e.g., en, nl)
Units: UN/ECE Rec 20 (e.g., C62, HUR)

2. Validate for Target Country

Use our validation API with country context:

curl -X POST https://app.goroute.ai/peppol-api/documents/validate \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "document": "<Invoice>...</Invoice>",
    "target_country": "DE",
    "cius": "XRechnung"
  }'

3. Handle Character Encoding

Always use UTF-8 encoding:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

Special characters should work natively:

ü, ö, ä (German umlauts)
é, è, ê (French accents)
ø, æ, å (Nordic characters)

4. Include Fallback Text

When using multiple languages, include English as fallback:

<cbc:Note languageID="nl">Betaling binnen 30 dagen</cbc:Note>
<cbc:Note languageID="en">Payment due within 30 days</cbc:Note>

Multi-Currency Support​

Supported Currencies​

Setting Invoice Currency​

Multi-Currency Invoices​

Multi-Language Support​

Invoice Notes and Descriptions​

Item Descriptions​

Supported Languages​

Country-Specific Localization​

Tax Identification​

Address Formats​

Date and Time Formats​

ISO 8601 Dates​

Timezone Handling​

Number Formatting​

Decimal Precision​

Quantity Units​

Country-Specific Rules (CIUS)​

Germany (XRechnung)​

Italy (FatturaPA)​

France (Factur-X)​

API Localization​

Setting Response Language​

Localized Validation Messages​

Best Practices​

1. Use ISO Standards​

2. Validate for Target Country​

3. Handle Character Encoding​

4. Include Fallback Text​

Next Steps​