Within the framework of the collaboration program between CIAT and the Initiative International Tax Compact (ITC) for strengthening the Tax Administrations in Latin American and the Caribbean, a seminar on electronic invoicing was held from 3-5 April in Panama with the main purpose of presenting and discussing the prototype of an electronic invoicing system to be used in the international commerce among the CIAT member countries.

This prototype is the product of the efforts of the CIAT working group created in 2008 with the aim of dealing with the issue of electronic invoicing in more depth and the later support of the European Commission from 2012. These have enabled the development of a standard for the exchange of electronic invoices among the administrations.

The seminar was inaugurated by the Executive Secretary of CIAT, Mr. Marcio Verdi, who addressed the opening words and also read the message of the Director of the ITC Initiative, Mr. Roland von Frankenhorst, who could not be present at the seminar. The representative of the European Commission in Panama, Mr. Eric Dejoie, also welcomed the participants to the workshop.

Officials from the tax administrations from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the Dominican Republic as well as representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Central America, Panama, Dominican Republic Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CAPTAC-DR) attended the workshop.

Besides the presentation of the study on a model of international electronic invoicing, the web services operation at the central node prototype and the advantages of a centralized system for messaging purposes, this workshop also offered a space to the countries involved in the CIAT working group to show the latest developments and progresses made in their respective administrations in the area of electronic invoicing. Furthermore, the Colombian National Tax and Customs Directorate (DIAN) presented its plan of implementation of electronic invoicing, which they expect to launch in the short-term and the Tax Directorate General of Costa Rica showed the most important issues for implementing it this year.

The development of the centralized system and the implementation of the web services generated the greatest interest among the participants. This raised the question of an optimization through the collaboration with three countries, which would participate in the pilot project of this development. The Tax Administrations also stressed their interest in collaborating with the development of the international electronic invoicing model. As a result, a web site for the exchange of information on international electronic invoicing has been created for the group (http://ieis.ciat.org).

Participants to the Electronic Invoicing Workshop.
Mr. Marcio F. Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary, welcomes the participants.		Mr. Marcio F. Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary is next to Mr. Eric Dejoie, Representative of the European Union Office in Panama, who is addressing the participants during the opening session.