In the framework of awareness raising and educational activities, that accompany ROSE Action – »Readiness of Slovenian e-Invoicing«, conducted by the Public Payments Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, ZZI d.o.o.,Mojdenar IT d.o.o. and Centre for European Perspective with the financial support from the European Union, a booklet titled “e-Invoicing in Slovenia” was published last week.
The booklet presents the current state of e-Invoicing in Slovenia and illustrates its benefits, but also puts the eBusiness in the wider European context. Through e-Invoicing Directive 2014/55/EU, further development of this field in the EU is described and interoperability and European semantic standard EN 16931 are underlined. The main part of the booklet presents the solutions, developed in the framework of ROSE Action, such as national database of eInvoice recipients and software solutions for eInvoice exchange both for budget users and for public procurement contractors other than budget users.
The publication emphasizes that it is very important for the efficient implementation of processes that the entire process from the issue, transmission, distribution, receipt, processing, payment and storage of the e-invoice is entirely electronic. As a result, e-commerce is currently being transferred from generally adopted e-invoices to other business documents that are used in supply and other business processes (e.g. purchase order, delivery note, etc.). In the near future, we can expect an additional increase in the exchange of electronic business documents in Slovenia and the European Union.
In the framework of Slovenia’s Development Cooperation with Montenegro, a project “Support of development of resource efficiency policy” will take place in Podgorica between 5 and 7 June 2018. The project consists of inter-ministerial workshop in the field of strategic planning of sustainable development, circular economy and green public procurement. Representatives of the working group for the implementation of the Action Plan for Sustainable Development of Montenegro will get interactively acquainted with Slovenian/EU trends in this very important field for Montenegro as it is a strategic goal for Montenegro to lower the gap between resource efficiency and average of the consumption in the EU and therefore become a greener and more competitive economy in accordance with Europe 2020 agenda.
Project is part of CEP’s program activities financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia in the framework of Slovenia’s Development Cooperation.
Readiness of Slovenian eInvoicing – ROSE Action concluded today with a conference “e-Invoicing – Crucial factor of business digitalization” in Portorož. A year-long action, supported by the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), was presented by the implementors Public Payments Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, ZZI d.o.o., Mojdenar IT d.o.o. and Centre for European Perspective.
The key outcome of the Action – readiness of Slovenia to receive eInvoices in EU standard – not only ensures compliance with the EU Directive on eInvoicing in Public Procurement 2014/55/EU, but also opens new opportunities for eBusiness, improves Slovenia’s connectivity in the Digital Single European Market, and eliminates market and trade barriers that are a result of different national rules and technical standards.
The conference brought together over a hundred representatives of public sector, business, civil society and other stakeholders that are involved in the e-Invoicing processes. Solutions presented simplify eBusiness in the EU at large.
Participants were first greeted by the Digital Coalition Managing Board President Igor Zorko. JorgoBertalanič of the Public Payments Administration presented the National Forum for eInvoices and Dušan Zupančič from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia illustrated the State of eInvoicing in Slovenia. Among the Action’s solutions, Alan Ružič of ZZI presented eSlog 2.0, Dr Rok Bojanc of ZZI introduced the national database of eInvoice recipients and Darinka Arh Pilih of PPA presented eVozlišče that enables users to receive eInvoice. The presenters also explained how newly developed approaches and tools improve business and digital competitiveness of Slovenia. Sabina Carli from the Centre for European Perspective, the coordinating institution, addressed future development of Action’s results and presented the potential of experiences gained during solution development for the countries of the Western Balkans.
Guest speaker Andreja Kajtaz, representative of FINA – Financial Agency, presented implementation of eInvoicing in Croatia. Usability of solutions for incoming and outgoing invoices and supply chain is crucial for the final users – user experience and good practice examples were presented by Luka Koper, Famm Co and Kemofarmacija.
In the conclusion, a round table discussion took place, where eBusiness development was discussed by Aleksandra Miklavčič, Director General of the Public Payments Administration; Dušan Zupančič, Director of the Association for Informatics and Telecommunications at the Chamber of Commerce; AleksanderBastl, President of the ERP Section at the Association for Informatics and Telecommunications; Tomaž Okorn, Board Member of the Chamber of Accounting Services; and DarjaMurkovičŽigart, Director, Sector for Informatics at Pošta Slovenije d.o.o.
In order to support the endeavor of the countries of the Western Balkans, the Centre for European Perspective (CEP) has been engaged in the entrepreneurial programmes for the last five years and its main objective is empowerment of young entrepreneurs from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Empowerment is understood in many layers – support in development of their idea, networking with colleagues from the region and wider, introducing them and their ideas to investors from all over the world as well as enable them to connect with peers from all across their country. The ultimate goal is to unite them in an informal setting that offers framework for cooperation, discussion and shaping of national policies. Encouraging young ones to contribute their perception of the world to the national policy process is essential for brighter future in their homeland.
Programme started in beginning of the year with two workshops in Sarajevo and Pristina and continued with online challenge where entrepreneurs needed to present their idea, team and business plans. Workshops were well visited which resulted in high number of submitted applications – 75 from Kosovo and 34 from Bosnia and Herzegovina. A selection committee selected best 10 ideas from each country and invited two people from each to come in May to Slovenia. Their transport, accommodation and meals were organized, along with ticket for PODIM conference.
CEP prepared an intensive and interesting programme which included meetup with Ambassadors from their countries, representatives of Slovene Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for the Western Balkan policies, pitches in front of experienced investors, discussion with start-up mentors and experts for entrepreneurship development. On 15 and 16 May 2018 the group of young and promising entrepreneurs moved to Maribor to participate in the biggest networking event for start-ups in the Alps-Adriatic Region, to take part in the PODIM Challenge pitching competition and to meet PODIM investors and blue-chip partners.
Programme in Maribor involved a number of intriguing lectures, panels and round-table discussions on business, business development, investments, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, block chain technology and ICOs and other topics that are of high interest to the young entrepreneurs. As part of the programme, PODIM Challenge TOP 20 took place in which the best 20 start-ups attending the conference pitched their ideas in front of an expert jury – and there was as well one start-up from Bosnia and Herzegovina among them – Meerkiddo.
Youngsters concluded their visit with bunch of positive stories, new contacts and connections, and even new ideas for their future developments. They have promised to stay in touch, support each other and in return for great opportunity, share their expertise with new start-ups that are yet to emerge in their local surroundings.
Programme is part of the Centre for European Perspective’s activities that are supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Slovenia’s Development Cooperation.
List of the selected BiH and Kosovo selected start-ups
Evaluation of the programme of BiH participant – start-up Meerkiddo
Some tips and hints from Dr Jernej Pintar, Technology Park of Ljubljana
At the margins of high-level inter-sectorial workshop dedicated to financial investigations, on 18 May 2018 the Minister of Interior of the Republic of Macedonia Oliver Spasovski received the following Slovenian delegation: Mr Darko Majhenič, the Director of National Bureau of Investigation, Mr Harij Furlan, Head of the Group of state prosecutors for the prosecution of organized crime at the Office of the State Prosecutor General of the Republic of Slovenia, and Ms Andreja Dolničar Jeraj, Programme Director at the Centre for European Perspective who lead the delegation. The Head of Sector for IPA and Community Programmes Mr Sasko Kocev and Advisor to the Minister MrVeton Kranlievski also joined the meeting.
They discussed outcomes of the workshop and experiences of Slovenia with changes made to the legislation and implementation of financial investigations. Since the Ministry of Interior leads the project on Macedonian side, it was suggested Minister Spasovski would host autumn inter-sectorial meeting and consider future activities for cooperation in the next programming period.
Project is part of CEP’s program activities financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia in the framework of Slovenia’s Development Cooperation.
