This ministerial order was the first ever general regulation issued to govern the acceptance of digital invoicing by the Central Government and its agencies. Moreover, the regulation specified the need to use an advanced electronic signature to ensure the integrity and authenticity of electronic documents. The order also developed the format in which the bills were to be issued, designated Facturae.

The law stipulated that as of August 1, 2009, the General State Administration should be able to receive and process electronic invoices from its suppliers. However, the Administration did not actually get round to creating the reception point for suppliers to address their invoices to.

The decree developed and transposed European Directive 2010/45 on electronic invoicing. Its adaptation did not involve major changes to Spanish laws, which in practice allowed transposition to take place with only slight modifications of the legislation previously in force. One notable aspect is that the regulation explicitly acknowledges electronic signature as a means to ensure authenticity of the source and integrity of the content.

Use of electronic invoicing with the Public Sector becomes compulsory as 15th of January 2015. All Public Administration suppliers and service providers must comply with the measure.

This Resolution announces the new electronic invoicing format version 3.2.1, designated “Facturae”. This latest version includes slight modifications designed to upgrade the data schema to the new developments taking place in the scope of taxation, and especially to prepare it for more intensive use with the entry into force of Law 25/2013, of 27 December.

Regulates the functional and technical requirements for invoice accounting in the Public Sector, created by Law 25/2013 of 27 December. The purpose of this registry is to improve accounting procedures, thanks to stringent control of invoices received by the Administration. The aim is to increase confidence in the accounting system and reduce delinquency in the Public Sector.

This Order defines how each of the public, state, regional and local administrations may have general points of entry for e-invoices so that suppliers can submit them electronically to the pertinent accounting office, from where they can be forwarded to the corresponding administrative organ for processing. This way, there would be a general point of entry for e-invoicing for each administrative level, unless the autonomous regions or local entities, applying the principle of efficiency, were to freely join the General Entry Point for e-Invoicing of the General State Administration, also known as FACe.

The Resolution of the Ministry of Public Administration lays down the conditions for use of the FaCe platform - the General State Administration’s General Entry Point for Electronic Invoicing -. Organizations and agencies joining the platform must agree to accept the conditions set forth in this text.

Se modifican la Orden HAP/492/2014, de 27 de marzo, por la que se regulan los requisitos funcionales y técnicos del registro contable de facturas de las entidades del ámbito de aplicación de la Ley 25/2013, de 27 de diciembre, de impulso de la factura electrónica y creación del registro contable de facturas en el Sector Público, y la Orden HAP/1074/2014, de 24 de junio, por la que se regulan las condiciones técnicas y funcionales que debe reunir el Punto General de Entrada de Facturas Electrónicas.

Dicha orden ministerial, persigue establecer criterios homogeneizadores respecto a la validación de la factura electrónica y, por ende, a su generación, con el objeto de reducir la alta incidencia de rechazos que se que se está advirtiendo en esta fase inicial de obligatoriedad de la factura electrónica. Adicionalmente, se busca regular el uso de extensiones de la factura electrónica, consideran como únicas extensiones válidas, las sectoriales, que serán aquéllas cuya iniciativa y definición corresponde a un sector de actividad, y cuya aprobación se efectuará en los términos establecidos en la propia Orden.