Look up Peppol participants

A receiver must have a Peppol ID and a registration with an Access Point before you can send a document on the Peppol network. The API has three operations to find and check a receiver. All three work without an API key: the Authorization header is not necessary.

Compare the operations

	`GET /api/validate/peppol-id`	`GET /api/lookup`	`GET /api/lookup/participants`
Purpose	Yes-or-no check before you send	Full technical record of a participant	Search by name
Input	Exact Peppol ID	Exact Peppol ID	Name or part of an identifier
Data source	SML and SMP	SML and SMP	Peppol Directory
Result	`is_valid` and the supported document types	DNS data, endpoints, certificates, business card	List of possible participants
Complete	Yes, for registered participants	Yes, for registered participants	No

The two operations with an exact Peppol ID use the same lookup and the same cache. The API keeps each result for 15 minutes.

The Peppol Directory can be incomplete. Publication in the directory is optional for an Access Point, so a registered participant can be absent from the search results. An empty search result does not show that a company is not on Peppol. Use the directory search to find candidates only, then check the Peppol ID.

Peppol ID schemes

A Peppol ID has the format scheme:identifier, for example 0208:1018265814. The scheme is a four-digit code that tells which register issued the identifier.

Country	ISO code	Scheme	Identifier type	Example
Belgium	BE	`0208`	Enterprise number (CBE/KBO), 10 digits. This is the VAT number without `BE`.	`0208:1018265814`
Netherlands	NL	`0106`	KVK number	`0106:12345678`
Netherlands	NL	`9944`	VAT number	`9944:NL123456789B01`
Luxembourg	LU	`9938`	VAT number	`9938:LU12345678`
France	FR	`0009`	SIRET number	`0009:12345678901234`
Germany	DE	`0204`	Leitweg-ID (public sector)	`0204:991-12345-67`
Germany	DE	`9930`	VAT number	`9930:DE123456789`
Italy	IT	`0211`	VAT number (Partita IVA)	`0211:IT12345678901`
United Kingdom	GB	`9932`	VAT number	`9932:GB123456789`
Denmark	DK	`0184`	CVR number	`0184:12345678`
Norway	NO	`0192`	Organisation number	`0192:123456789`
Sweden	SE	`0007`	Organisation number	`0007:1234567890`
Finland	FI	`0216`	OVT code	`0216:003712345678`
International	-	`0088`	Global Location Number (GLN)	`0088:1234567890123`
International	-	`0060`	D-U-N-S number	`0060:123456789`

This table shows the most frequent schemes of the Peppol participant identifier scheme code list, version 9.1. This is the version that the API uses. For all schemes, see the Peppol code lists. For a Belgian company, the identifier is the enterprise number: the VAT number without BE. The VAT number BE1018265814 gives the Peppol ID 0208:1018265814.

Pre-send check

Before you send a document, call GET /api/validate/peppol-id with the Peppol ID of the receiver. Send only if is_valid is true and supported_document_types contains the document type that you send. This is the only place where this rule is written; other pages link to it.

string

required

Peppol ID in the format scheme:identifier, for example 0208:1018265814.

curl "https://api.e-invoice.be/api/validate/peppol-id?peppol_id=0208:1018265814"

const params = new URLSearchParams({ peppol_id: '0208:1018265814' });
const response = await fetch(`https://api.e-invoice.be/api/validate/peppol-id?${params}`);
const result = await response.json();
console.log(result.is_valid, result.supported_document_types);

import requests

url = "https://api.e-invoice.be/api/validate/peppol-id"
result = requests.get(url, params={"peppol_id": "0208:1018265814"}).json()
print(result["is_valid"], result["supported_document_types"])

<?php
$url = 'https://api.e-invoice.be/api/validate/peppol-id?' . http_build_query(['peppol_id' => '0208:1018265814']);
$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$result = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
var_dump($result['is_valid']);

using var client = new HttpClient();
var json = await client.GetStringAsync("https://api.e-invoice.be/api/validate/peppol-id?peppol_id=" + Uri.EscapeDataString("0208:1018265814"));
Console.WriteLine(json);

{
  "is_valid": true,
  "dns_valid": true,
  "business_card_valid": true,
  "supported_document_types": [
    "urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2::Invoice##urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:3.0::2.1",
    "urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CreditNote-2::CreditNote##urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:3.0::2.1"
  ],
  "business_card": { "name": "E-INVOICE BV", "country_code": "BE", "registration_date": "2025-01-15" }
}

boolean

The SML has a DNS record for the Peppol ID, so an SMP knows the participant.

boolean

The SMP publishes a business card with a minimum of one entity.

boolean

true if dns_valid or business_card_valid is true. It does not tell which document types the receiver accepts; read supported_document_types for that.

object

null if there is no business card.

For a Peppol ID that is not registered, the status is 200 and is_valid is false.

Get the full record of a participant

GET /api/lookup returns the complete result of the SML and SMP lookup. Use it when you need the endpoints, the transport profile or the certificates of a receiver, for example to find the cause of a failed send. It has the same peppol_id query parameter as the pre-send check.

curl "https://api.e-invoice.be/api/lookup?peppol_id=0208:1018265814"

const params = new URLSearchParams({ peppol_id: '0208:1018265814' });
const response = await fetch(`https://api.e-invoice.be/api/lookup?${params}`);
const record = await response.json();
console.log(record.dnsInfo.status, record.businessCard.entities[0]?.name);

import requests

url = "https://api.e-invoice.be/api/lookup"
record = requests.get(url, params={"peppol_id": "0208:1018265814"}).json()
print(record["dnsInfo"]["status"])

<?php
$url = 'https://api.e-invoice.be/api/lookup?' . http_build_query(['peppol_id' => '0208:1018265814']);
$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$record = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
echo $record['dnsInfo']['status'];

using var client = new HttpClient();
var json = await client.GetStringAsync("https://api.e-invoice.be/api/lookup?peppol_id=" + Uri.EscapeDataString("0208:1018265814"));
Console.WriteLine(json);

{
  "queryMetadata": {
    "identifierScheme": "iso6523-actorid-upis",
    "identifierValue": "0208:1018265814",
    "smlDomain": "participant.sml.prod.tech.peppol.org",
    "timestamp": "2026-01-12T14:32:10.123456",
    "version": "1.0.0"
  },
  "status": "success",
  "errors": [],
  "dnsInfo": {
    "status": "success",
    "smpHostname": "smp.e-invoice.be",
    "smlHostname": "participant.sml.prod.tech.peppol.org",
    "dnsRecords": [{ "ip": "193.140.151.175" }]
  },
  "serviceMetadata": {
    "status": "success",
    "queryTimeMs": 210.4,
    "endpoints": [
      {
        "status": "success",
        "url": "https://smp.e-invoice.be/iso6523-actorid-upis::0208:1018265814/services/busdox-docid-qns::urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2::Invoice%23%23urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017%23compliant%23urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:3.0::2.1",
        "documentTypes": [
          { "scheme": "busdox-docid-qns", "value": "urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2::Invoice##urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:3.0::2.1" }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "businessCard": {
    "status": "success",
    "entities": [{ "name": "E-INVOICE BV", "countryCode": "BE" }],
    "queryTimeMs": 123.45
  },
  "certificates": [],
  "executionTimeMs": 895
}

This example is shortened: it shows one endpoint, and no processes and certificates content. The status is 200 also for a Peppol ID that is not registered. In that case dnsInfo.status is error. This response has no single field that says “registered”; the pre-send check gives that answer.

Search the Peppol Directory

GET /api/lookup/participants searches the public Peppol Directory. Use it when you know the name of a company but not its Peppol ID, for example for a search field in your application.

string

required

Search text: a company name or a part of an identifier.

string

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code, for example BE. Without this parameter the search is global.

curl "https://api.e-invoice.be/api/lookup/participants?query=E-INVOICE&country_code=BE"

const params = new URLSearchParams({ query: 'E-INVOICE', country_code: 'BE' });
const response = await fetch(`https://api.e-invoice.be/api/lookup/participants?${params}`);
const { participants } = await response.json();
console.log(participants.map((p) => `${p.peppol_scheme}:${p.peppol_id}`));

import requests

url = "https://api.e-invoice.be/api/lookup/participants"
result = requests.get(url, params={"query": "E-INVOICE", "country_code": "BE"}).json()
for p in result["participants"]:
    print(f'{p["peppol_scheme"]}:{p["peppol_id"]}')

<?php
$url = 'https://api.e-invoice.be/api/lookup/participants?' . http_build_query(['query' => 'E-INVOICE', 'country_code' => 'BE']);
$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$result = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
echo count($result['participants']);

using var client = new HttpClient();
var json = await client.GetStringAsync("https://api.e-invoice.be/api/lookup/participants?query=" + Uri.EscapeDataString("E-INVOICE") + "&country_code=BE");
Console.WriteLine(json);

{
  "total_count": 1,
  "used_count": 1,
  "query_terms": "E-INVOICE",
  "search_date": "2026-01-12T14:32:10.123456",
  "participants": [
    {
      "peppol_id": "1018265814",
      "peppol_scheme": "0208",
      "entities": [
        { "name": "E-INVOICE BV", "country_code": "BE", "registration_date": "2025-01-15", "identifiers": [] }
      ],
      "document_types": []
    }
  ]
}

Join peppol_scheme and peppol_id with a colon to get the Peppol ID for the pre-send check.

Find and check a receiver

This pattern combines the operations. If you know the identifier, it checks the Peppol ID directly. If you know only the name, it searches the directory and checks each candidate.

Complete example (Node.js and Python)

const BASE = 'https://api.e-invoice.be';
const INVOICE = 'urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2::Invoice##';

async function get(path, params) {
  const response = await fetch(`${BASE}${path}?${new URLSearchParams(params)}`);
  if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`${path} returned ${response.status}`);
  return response.json();
}

// Pre-send check: registered and able to receive invoices.
async function checkReceiver(peppolId) {
  const result = await get('/api/validate/peppol-id', { peppol_id: peppolId });
  const canReceive = result.is_valid && result.supported_document_types.some((t) => t.startsWith(INVOICE));
  return { peppolId, canReceive, name: result.business_card?.name ?? null };
}

// Directory search: candidates only.
async function searchDirectory(name, countryCode) {
  const result = await get('/api/lookup/participants', { query: name, country_code: countryCode });
  return (result.participants ?? []).map((p) => `${p.peppol_scheme}:${p.peppol_id}`);
}

async function findReceiver({ peppolId, name, countryCode = 'BE' }) {
  const candidates = peppolId ? [peppolId] : await searchDirectory(name, countryCode);
  const checked = await Promise.all(candidates.map(checkReceiver));
  return checked.filter((c) => c.canReceive);
}

console.log(await findReceiver({ peppolId: '0208:0848934496' }));
console.log(await findReceiver({ name: 'OpenPeppol' }));

import requests

BASE = "https://api.e-invoice.be"
INVOICE = "urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2::Invoice##"

def get(path, params):
    response = requests.get(f"{BASE}{path}", params=params, timeout=30)
    response.raise_for_status()
    return response.json()

def check_receiver(peppol_id):
    """Pre-send check: registered and able to receive invoices."""
    result = get("/api/validate/peppol-id", {"peppol_id": peppol_id})
    types = result["supported_document_types"]
    can_receive = result["is_valid"] and any(t.startswith(INVOICE) for t in types)
    card = result.get("business_card") or {}
    return {"peppol_id": peppol_id, "can_receive": can_receive, "name": card.get("name")}

def search_directory(name, country_code):
    """Directory search: candidates only."""
    result = get("/api/lookup/participants", {"query": name, "country_code": country_code})
    return [f'{p["peppol_scheme"]}:{p["peppol_id"]}' for p in result.get("participants") or []]

def find_receiver(peppol_id=None, name=None, country_code="BE"):
    candidates = [peppol_id] if peppol_id else search_directory(name, country_code)
    return [c for c in map(check_receiver, candidates) if c["can_receive"]]

print(find_receiver(peppol_id="0208:0848934496"))
print(find_receiver(name="OpenPeppol"))

If the list is empty after a search by name, ask the customer for the enterprise number or VAT number and check the Peppol ID directly. If the direct check also gives is_valid: false, the customer cannot receive documents on Peppol; use a different delivery method.

Integration checklist

Do the pre-send check for each new receiver.
Use the directory search only to find candidates, and check each candidate.
Do not use an empty directory result as proof that a company is not registered.
Show the user a clear message when the search finds nothing, and ask for the identifier.
Keep a positive result in your own cache for a limited time; a receiver can change its Access Point or stop its registration.
Set the Peppol IDs explicitly when you send. See Create e-invoices.
For the status codes and the error body of these operations, see Errors and troubleshooting.

Next Steps

Create e-invoices

Create a document and send it to the receiver that you checked.

Document lifecycle and delivery tracking

Follow the state of a document after the send.

Errors and troubleshooting

Find the cause of a failed send.

Glossary

Read the definitions of the Peppol terms.

Getting started

Send documents

Receive and manage

Other input formats

Integrate

SDKs and tools

Resellers

Reference

Look up Peppol participants

Compare the operations

Peppol ID schemes

Pre-send check

Get the full record of a participant

Search the Peppol Directory

Find and check a receiver

Integration checklist

Next Steps

Create e-invoices

Document lifecycle and delivery tracking

Errors and troubleshooting

Glossary

​Compare the operations

​Peppol ID schemes

​Pre-send check

​Get the full record of a participant

​Search the Peppol Directory

​Find and check a receiver

​Integration checklist

​Next Steps

Create e-invoices

Document lifecycle and delivery tracking

Errors and troubleshooting

Glossary

Compare the operations

Peppol ID schemes

Pre-send check

Get the full record of a participant

Search the Peppol Directory

Find and check a receiver

Integration checklist

Next Steps