Many of the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority's (FICORA) fees, such as the television fee, frequency fee, maritime radio examination and certificate fee, can be eInvoiced as of this fall. At first, customers of other banks than Nordea cannot pay FICORA's eInvoices. The service will be provided by Itella Information. Consumers can still have FICORA's invoices on paper. The shift to eInvoicing is easy. When consumers next time pay their invoice online, they can notify that they wish to have their invoice sent to their online bank as an eInvoice.
"Consumers can now select whether they want their television fee invoice on paper or sent as an eInvoice to their online bank. We believe that many will opt for the electronic invoice, which is easy, although the paper version will also be available," says FICORA Development Manager Aulikki Behm.
That FICORA now carries e-invoices is part of the cooperation between Itella Information and the State Treasury, which encourages state authorities to introduce eInvoicing. In the spring of 2007, Itella Information Oy won the competitive bidding on the state invoice delivery. The objective of the State Treasury is to have all purchase invoices sent to state authorities online by the end of 2009, as well as a major part of the outgoing invoices.
FICORA has high invoicing volumes. Annually, 5.5 million television fee invoices are sent to consumers and companies, and about 55,000 radio frequency or other fees are invoiced.
"By transferring to eInvoicing, those sending high volumes of invoices set an example to other players. In Finland, the spread of eInvoicing among consumers has not proceeded as predicted. It is important that consumers can select where they want their invoices delivered. Consumers can review the image of the invoice on an electronic invoice produced by Itella Information. They also appreciate that they have the freedom to choose between different alternatives, can save the invoice in an electronic archive, and see the image of the invoice with all specifications," says Director Jari Annala, who is responsible for the operations of Itella Information in Finland.
The Finnish Vehicle Administration with its 6.5 million automobile tax invoices and FICORA with its 5.5 million television fee invoices send the most invoices within the public administration. The Vehicle Administration will introduce eInvoicing next spring. Approximately 89 per cent of invoices sent by the public administration go to consumers. Nearly 70 per cent of invoices received by the public administration are already now electronic. Of these, nearly 30 per cent are online invoices and 40 per cent of those scanned by Itella.
Further information:
Aulikki Behm, Development Manager, FICORA, tel. 09 6966 255 (television fees)
Tuovi Rasilainen, Economic Coordinator, FICORA, tel. 09 6966 846 (radio frequency fees etc.)
Jari Annala, Vice President, Itella Information Oy, tel. 0400 338 585.
FICORA's role is to ensure versatile, effective and secure communications connections and services, and to promote the development of information society. Our objectives are an information-secure society and interference-free communications networks, effectively functioning communications markets, communications services of good quality and versatile electronic media.
www.ficora.fi
Itella Information partners with companies and organisations in the processing, management and delivery of information flows. We provide the most flexible and efficient services for corporate invoicing processes, integration of the supply chain and automatic handling of documents. We favour the latest technology and best practices by increasing the value of the customer. We employ 1,700 professionals in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. In 2007, our turnover totalled MEUR 216. Itella Information business group is part of the Itella Group.
www.itella.fi/informaatiologistiikka
