Electronic Invoicing in Public Procurement Regulations, 2018

L.N. 404 of 2018

L.N. 404 of 2018

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION AND AUDIT ACT

(CAP. 174)

Electronic Invoicing in Public Procurement Regulations, 2018

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 4 of the

Financial Administration and Audit Act, the Minister responsible for

Finance has made the following regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Electronic Title and

commencement.

Invoicing in Public Procurement Regulations, 2018.

(2) These regulations implement certain provisions of

Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 16 th April 2014 on electronic invoicing in public procurement.

(3) These regulations shall come into force on the 27 th

November 2018.

(4) By way of derogation from sub-regulation (3), contracting

authorities and contracting entities shall, by not later than 18 th April

2019, adopt, publish and apply the provisions necessary to comply

with the obligation contained in regulation 5 to receive and process

electronic invoices.

(5) By way of derogation from sub-regulation (3), sub-central

contracting authorities and contracting entities shall, by not later than

the 18 th April 2020, adopt, publish and apply the provisions necessary

to comply with the obligation contained in regulation 5 to receive and

process electronic invoices.

(6) Where Malta considers that any future update or revision of

the European standard on electronic invoicing made by the European

Commission does not entirely satisfy the requirements set out in

Article 3(1) of Directive 2014/55/EU, it shall inform the European

Commission thereof with a detailed explanation.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires

Interpretation.

"contracting authorities" means the State, regional or local

authorities, bodies governed by public law or associations

formed by one or more such authorities or one or more such

bodies governed by public law, but for the purpose of the

Concession Contract Regulations only ‘contracting authorities’ S.L. 174.10.

shall have the meaning assigned to it in regulation 2 of those

regulations;

"contracting entities" means contracting entities as defined

in regulation 2 of the Public Procurement of Contracting

Authorities or Entities in the fields of Defence and Security

Regulations, sub-regulation (2) of regulation 2 of the Concession

Contract Regulations and sub-regulation (2) of regulation 2 of

the Public Procurement of Entities operating in the Water,

Energy, Transport and Postal Services Sectors Regulations;

"core elements of an electronic invoice" means a set of

essential information components which an electronic invoice

must contain in order to enable cross-border interoperability,

including the necessary information to ensure legal compliance;

"electronic invoice" means an invoice that has been issued,

transmitted and received in a structured electronic format which

allows for its automatic and electronic processing;

"European standard on electronic invoicing" means the

European standard on electronic invoicing EN 16931-1:2017 for

the semantic data model of the core elements of an electronic

invoice established by the European Committee for

Standardization (CEN) and published through the European

Commission’s Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/1870 of 16

October 2017;

"semantic data model" means a structured and logically

interrelated set of terms and their meanings that specify the core

elements of an electronic invoice;

"sub-central contracting authorities" means sub-central

contracting authorities as defined in point (3) of Article 2(1) of

Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 26 th February 2014 on public procurement and

repealing Directive 20014/18/EC.

(1) These regulations shall apply to electronic invoices

issued as a result of the performance of contracts to which the Public

Procurement of Contracting Authorities or Entities in the fields of

Defence and Security Regulations, the Concession Contract

Regulations, the Public Procurement Regulations or the Public

Procurement of Entities operating in the Water, Energy, Transport and

Postal Services Sectors Regulations apply and which are above the

threshold for inclusion in the Official Journal of the European Union.

(2) These Regulations shall not apply to electronic invoices

issued as a result of the performance of contracts falling within the

scope of the Public Procurement of Contracting Authorities or Entities S.L. 174.08.

in the fields of Defence and Security Regulations, where the

procurement and performance of the contract are declared to be secret

or must be accompanied by special security measures in accordance

with the laws, regulations or administrative provisions in force in

Malta, and provided it has been determined that the essential interests

concerned cannot be guaranteed by less intrusive measures.

The core elements of an electronic invoice are, inter alia

Core elements

of an electronic

invoice.

(a)

process and invoice identifiers;

(b)

the invoice period;

(c)

seller information;

(d)

buyer information;

(e)

payee information;

(f)

seller's tax representative information;

(g)

contract reference;

(h)

delivery details;

(i)

payment instructions;

(j)

allowance or charge information;

(k)

invoice line item information;

(l)

invoice totals;

(m) VAT breakdown.

(1) Contracting authorities and contracting entities shall Receipt and

receive and process electronic invoices which comply with the processing

electronic

European standard on electronic invoicing.

invoices.

(2) These regulations are without prejudice to the right of the

sender of the invoice to choose between submitting the invoice in

accordance with the European standard on electronic invoicing or in

paper format.

(1) These regulations are without prejudice to applicable Data protection.

European Union and national law on data protection.

(2) Subject to any provisions to the contrary in European

Union or national law and without prejudice to the restrictions set out

in Article 23 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament

and of the Council of 27 April 2016, article 5 of the Data Protection

Act and any regulations made thereunder, personal data obtained for

the purpose of electronic invoicing may be used only for that purpose

or for purposes compatible with it.

(3) Without prejudice to the exemptions and restrictions set out

in Article 23 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament

and of the Council of 27 April 2016, article 5 of the Data Protection

Act and any regulations made thereunder, arrangements for the

publication, for transparency and accounting purposes, of personal

data gathered in connection with electronic invoicing shall be

consistent with the purpose of such publication and with the principle

of the protection of privacy.

These Regulations are without prejudice to the provisions

of the Value Added Tax Act.

€0.36