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Do I need a Peppol Access Point?

beliq builds and validates your e-invoice; it does not send it. This page explains when you also need a Peppol Access Point, when your existing software already is one, and when Peppol is not in the picture at all.

Short answer: if your invoice has to travel over the Peppol network, then yes, you need a Peppol Access Point, and beliq is not one. beliq and an Access Point solve different halves of the same problem. beliq makes the file correct; the Access Point delivers it. They are complementary, not alternatives.

This is the same boundary described in scope: beliq builds and validates, you send.

Two different jobs

beliq Peppol Access Point
Does Builds, validates, converts, and parses the e-invoice Transports the document over the Peppol network
Answers Is this file correct against the authority’s rules? Did this file reach the recipient?
You get back A valid file and a verdict Delivery to the recipient’s Access Point

A correct invoice that never arrives is useless, and a delivered invoice that fails validation gets rejected. You need both halves. beliq does not try to be the second half, and an Access Point does not do the first.

What a Peppol Access Point is

Peppol moves documents on a four-corner model:

  1. You (C1) hand your invoice to your Access Point.
  2. Your Access Point (C2) looks the recipient up and puts the document on the network.
  3. The recipient’s Access Point (C3) receives it.
  4. The recipient (C4) gets it in their system.

Discovery happens through Peppol’s own address registries (the SML and SMP), and transport runs over the AS4 protocol. An Access Point is your registered on-ramp to that network. You cannot send onto Peppol without one, because the network only accepts traffic from accredited Access Points.

beliq produces the Peppol BIS document that rides through those corners. It does not occupy any corner itself.

When you need one

You need a Peppol Access Point when your invoice is meant to travel over Peppol. The clearest current example is Belgium, where structured B2B e-invoicing over Peppol has been mandatory since 1 January 2026. beliq builds and validates the Peppol BIS file; a certified Access Point puts it on the network. See the Belgium guide and the mandate calendar.

When you may not need to procure one

An Access Point is not always a separate thing you go out and buy:

  • Your software may already include one. Many ERPs and accounting platforms embed a certified Access Point. If yours does, it is your Access Point, and you do not procure another. You might still use beliq for validation and for the formats your platform does not build natively.
  • Peppol may not be in the picture at all. Not every mandate routes over Peppol. In Germany, domestic B2B invoices can travel point-to-point, and emailing a ZUGFeRD or Factur-X PDF to your counterparty is a valid delivery path with no Peppol Access Point involved. France routes through a certified platform (Plateforme Agréée, PA) rather than a generic Peppol Access Point. In both cases beliq still builds and validates the file; what carries it differs. See the Germany and France guides.
  • You are only receiving. Inbound Peppol arrives through your Access Point’s or platform’s inbox. If you just need to read what lands there, beliq parses it into canonical fields; the receiving on-ramp is your platform’s concern, not a second thing you set up.

beliq does not tie you to any Access Point

Today, beliq builds and validates, and you bring your own connector: choose the Access Point you trust, and beliq pairs with it. Nothing in beliq forces your document through a particular network or vendor. Managed delivery is coming next, and it will stay provider-independent: you choose the network, and beliq never locks you to one.

Being honest about the limit of that freedom: switching Access Points later is not frictionless. It can mean migrating your registration in the SMP and updating certificates. What beliq guarantees is that it never forces itself into that path, so your choice of Access Point stays yours and is never dictated by us.