How to Choose Your Certified Platform for Electronic Invoicing

Understanding the Role of a Certified Platform

A Certified Platform (Plateforme Agréée – PA) is a service provider officially certified by the French Tax Administration. Its role is to transmit, receive, and validate electronic invoicing flows between businesses. It is also responsible for forwarding the required invoicing data to the French Tax Administration.

In practice, a Certified Platform must comply with several regulatory and operational requirements, including:

• Obtaining official certification from the French Tax Administration after successfully completing the required audits and compliance checks
• Sending and/or receiving electronic invoices between economic operators using the formats authorized by the reform (UBL, CII, and Factur-X)
• Ensuring interoperability with other Certified Platforms
• Transmitting invoicing data through e-invoicing and transaction and payment data through e-reporting to the French Tax Administration
• Guaranteeing the authenticity, integrity, readability, and traceability of exchanged data
• Managing invoice lifecycle statuses
• Consulting the national directory to route invoices to the correct recipients and keep company information up to date

However, Certified Platforms do much more than meet regulatory obligations. To support businesses in their operational environments, they also provide value-added services that transform regulatory compliance into a genuine business opportunity.

Certified Platforms Built on Different Areas of Expertise

The Certified Platform market is highly diverse. Some providers are pure-play Certified Platforms, while others build on expertise in electronic invoicing, accounting, electronic archiving and document management (EDM), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), and many other business domains.

As a result, Certified Platforms differ significantly in both their technological approach and functional capabilities. Not all of them address the same operational challenges.

For organizations operating in complex, multi-subsidiary or multi-ERP environments, long-standing expertise in data exchange and systems integration can provide a significant advantage.

At Arteva, we have been helping businesses manage structured and interconnected business flows for over 20 years, combining proven expertise in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and electronic invoicing.

EDI provides a robust foundation for managing high transaction volumes, orchestrating multiple document formats, and ensuring interoperability across heterogeneous information systems. Among the officially certified platforms, only 22% originate from the Electronic Data Interchange sector (Source: The Invoicing Hub – “The Great Certified Platforms Benchmark”, 3rd Edition, April 2026).

Finally, some providers complement their service portfolio by relying on white-label or gray-label Certified Platform solutions. Rather than operating their own technical platform, they leverage another provider’s infrastructure while offering additional services tailored to their customers’ specific needs.

Key Criteria for Choosing the Right Certified Platform

1. The Ability to Rely on One or Multiple Certified Platforms

Under the French electronic invoicing reform, businesses are required to use a Certified Platform (PA) to issue and receive electronic invoices.

However, companies are free to rely on one or several Certified Platforms, whether for issuing or receiving invoices.

This approach may serve several objectives, including:

• ensuring business continuity
• addressing specific operational needs (for example, connectivity with Chorus Pro)

That said, working with multiple Certified Platforms may increase operational complexity—including invoice routing, monitoring, and data consistency—unless it is properly managed. It therefore requires robust orchestration of invoicing flows across the organization’s Information System.

2. Integration with the Information System (IS)

In organizations with complex IT environments, seamless integration of the Certified Platform into the existing Information System is essential. This can be achieved through:

• electronic invoicing APIs
• EDI connectors
• automated exchanges with ERP systems, accounting software, and business applications

For organizations operating multiple subsidiaries or multiple ERP systems, integration capabilities are particularly important. They make it possible to maintain a centralized view of invoicing activities while avoiding duplicate interfaces and manual data entry.

👉 Wondering how electronic invoicing can be integrated into your existing Information System? Speaking with an expert is often the fastest way to identify the most suitable approach for your organization.

Contact an Expert

3. Managing Formats and Business Flows

The reform requires Certified Platforms to support the three official electronic invoicing formats: Factur-X, UBL, and CII. However, many platforms also handle additional document formats and business flows, such as:

• PDF invoices that fall outside the scope of the reform;
• legacy EDI messages (EDIFACT, ANSI X12, TRADACOMS, etc.);
• unstructured documents requiring OCR or video-assisted data capture;
• international B2B exchanges.

A Certified Platform should be tailored to each company’s operational needs and capable of coexisting with existing business processes and document flows while ensuring full compliance with the electronic invoicing reform…

4. Invoice Lifecycle Management and Business Controls

Issuing and processing an electronic invoice involves much more than simply sending a document. It includes:

• invoice lifecycle statuses (issued, submitted, rejected, paid, etc.)
• compliance checks (mandatory fields, data consistency, regulatory validation)
• internal approval workflows where required
• seamless integration with accounting systems

These capabilities are essential for securing financial processes, maintaining a reliable audit trail, and preventing invoice rejections or data inconsistencies. They also help preserve supplier-customer relationships, reduce payment delays, mitigate financial risks, and ensure compliance in the event of a tax audit.

5. Infrastructure and Support Model

Choosing a Certified Platform also means choosing a long-term partner.

Beyond the technical solution itself, support models vary significantly. Some providers offer highly standardized services, while others adopt a more consultative approach by assessing business requirements, recommending solutions aligned with operational and regulatory challenges, and providing dedicated support throughout the project lifecycle.

Providers with strong functional expertise and close operational support typically deliver:

• a deep understanding of business processes and existing IT environments
• greater responsiveness when addressing customer requirements
• hands-on support during deployment, upgrades, and ongoing solution optimization

Rather than comparing business models, organizations should assess the level of support, availability, and proximity they require based on the complexity of their processes and operational objectives.

6. Support for Business Use Cases and Industry-Specific Requirements

Many industries and organizations operate with specific invoicing models driven by their business processes, transaction types, and operational constraints. These characteristics translate into concrete business use cases that should be identified early in the project.

Before selecting a Certified Platform, organizations should therefore carry out a detailed assessment of their requirements to determine the business scenarios to support, the expected processing rules, and the desired operating model.

The right Certified Platform is one that can effectively address these use cases and configure its solution to match the organization’s functional and business requirements while ensuring long-term compliance, efficiency, and scalability.

Arteva: A Certified Platform You Can Trust

Officially certified by the French Tax Administration, Arteva offers Orchestrade eFacture, a solution that goes far beyond regulatory compliance to address the operational realities of large enterprises, mid-sized companies, and SMEs.

Backed by more than 20 years of expertise in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and electronic invoicing, Arteva relies on a proven architecture designed to orchestrate multi-format document flows, integrate seamlessly with complex IT environments, and support organizations operating multiple ERP systems and subsidiaries throughout their compliance journey.

With Orchestrade eFacture, organizations can:

• gain a centralized view of all invoicing activities across ERP systems, subsidiaries, and countries
• process invoices outside the scope of the reform using EDI standards, OCR, or video-assisted data capture
• integrate advanced business controls and approval workflows through to accounting integration
• automate Procure-to-Pay (P2P) and Order-to-Cash (O2C) processes

This comprehensive approach enables smooth integration into existing Information Systems while providing personalized support tailored to the needs of large and complex organizations.

Thanks to its recognized expertise in EDI and electronic invoicing, combined with its ability to adapt to each customer’s operational environment, Arteva and Orchestrade eFacture have established themselves as trusted players within the Certified Platform ecosystem.

👉 Looking to ensure compliance while optimizing your invoicing processes? Contact the Arteva team to discuss your project and business challenges.

Contact an Expert

Learn More: The Official List of Certified Platforms

The French Public Finances Directorate General (DGFiP) publishes on the impots.gouv.fr website an official list of Certified Platforms (Plateformes Agréées) approved by the French Tax Administration. The list is regularly updated and presented in alphabetical order:

@GP
@iPaidThat
@N2F PDP
ABBY
ACCENTURE
ADEMICO SOFTWARE
AGENA 3000
AGICAP
ARTEVA
AVALARA
AXONAUT
AXWAY SOFTWARE
AZOPIO
B2BROUTER
B4VALUE.NET
BASWARE
BC SOLUTIONS
BILLIT
CBS CORPORATE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
CECURITY
CEGEDIM
CEGI ALFA
CEGID
CHAINTRUST
CLEARTAX
COMARCH SA
DARVA
DEXT
DIGIPHARMACIE
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
DOCOON
DOCOON IMMO / FREEDZ
DOCPROCESS
DOCUWARE
DOUGS FACTURATION GRATUITE
DOXALLIA
ECOSIO
EDICOM GROUP
EDICOM FRANCE
EDICS FRANCE
EDT
EEZI
EEZI POWERED by VAT IT
AFFINUM BY SPEE
ENERJ
ENTROPICS
ESALINK
ESI
ESKER
EURO INFORMATION
FACNOTE PDP
FIDUCIAL CLOUD
FLOWIE
FULLL
GENERIX GROUP
GESTAV
GROUPE SIGMA
GURUSOFT
ICD INTERNATIONAL
IEDI APS
IGA ASSURANCE
INDICOM
INDY
INFOLOGIC
INVOPOP
IOPOLE
ITESOFT
JEFACTURE.COM
KLEKOON
KOLECTO PDP
LE VILLAGE CONNECTE
LEGALINVOICE BY TINEXTA INFOCERT
LOGILEC
MACOMPTA.FR
MAROSA
MEDIUS
MYKINEXO PDP
MYSUPPLY APS
MY UNISOFT
NEOTIMO
ODOO
ONE UP
OPEN BEE
OPENTEXT
PAGERO
PARAGON
PAYFLOWS
PENNYLANE
PITNEY BOWES
QONTO
QWEEBY
SAGE
SAP
SCRIBEE
SEEBURGER
SELLSY
SEPTEO
SEQINO
SERENSIA BY QUADIENT
SERES
SNI
SOLO
SOVOS
SPENDESK
SPS COMMERCE
SRCI
SUPER PDP
SYMTRAX
TENOR
TESISQUARE SPA
TESSI TECHNOLOGIES
TIIME PDP
TRADESHIFT BABELWAY
TRANSALIS LIMITED
TRESO2
TUNGSTEN AUTOMATION FRANCE
TX2 CONCEPT
VENTYA
VERYSWING
VOSFACTURES
VOXEL, AN AMADEUS COMPANY
WEPROC
WISETECH GLOBAL
YOOZ PDP