What is the OASIS UBL standard?
Effective: 2004-01-01 · Authority: OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards)
OASIS UBL (Universal Business Language) is an open standard library of XML document schemas for electronic business documents. UBL 2.1 is maintained by OASIS, an international standards body. UBL defines schemas for 65 document types including invoices, orders, and credit notes. It forms the basis of Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 and EN 16931 UBL syntax binding.
How is the UBL standard governed?
OASIS UBL is governed through the OASIS UBL Technical Committee. Updates go through public comment periods and member voting. UBL 2.1 (ISO/IEC 19845:2015) is the current stable version used in production systems. UBL 2.3 added new document types but has limited adoption. OASIS UBL is royalty-free.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is OASIS UBL the same as Peppol BIS?
- No. Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is a CIUS (implementation specification) built on UBL 2.1. It adds Peppol-specific business rules, restricts allowed values, and makes some optional UBL fields mandatory. Peppol BIS is more constrained than base UBL. A valid Peppol BIS invoice is also a valid UBL invoice, but not vice versa.
- What countries use UBL as their national e-invoice format?
- Countries using UBL nationally include: Denmark (OIOUBL), Norway (EHF/UBL), UK (UBL for Crown Commercial Service), Australia and New Zealand (A-NZ CIUS), Singapore (SG-PINT), Romania (RO_CIUS), and Malaysia (MyInvois). Peppol-connected countries effectively use UBL for cross-border B2G invoicing.
AutoFact AI is not certified by, affiliated with, or endorsed by any regulatory authority referenced on this page. References describe technical alignment with published regulatory requirements only.