Back in 2013 I proposed
-a
-way to make paper and PDF invoices easier to process electronically by
-adding a QR code with the key information about the invoice. I
-suggested using vCard field definition, to get some standard format
-for name and address, but any format would work. I did not do
-anything about the proposal, but hoped someone one day would make
-something like it. It would make it possible to efficiently send
-machine readable invoices directly between seller and buyer.
-
-
This was the background when I came across a proposal and
-specification from the web based accounting and invoicing supplier
-Visma in Sweden called
-UsingQR. Their PDF invoices contain
-a QR code with the key information of the invoice in JSON format.
-This is the typical content of a QR code following the UsingQR
-specification (based on a real world example, some numbers replaced to
-get a more bogus entry). I've reformatted the JSON to make it easier
-to read. Normally this is all on one long line:
-
-
-{
- "vh":500.00,
- "vm":0,
- "vl":0,
- "uqr":1,
- "tp":1,
- "nme":"Din Leverandør",
- "cc":"NO",
- "cid":"997912345 MVA",
- "iref":"12300001",
- "idt":"20151022",
- "ddt":"20151105",
- "due":2500.0000,
- "cur":"NOK",
- "pt":"BBAN",
- "acc":"17202612345",
- "bc":"BIENNOK1",
- "adr":"0313 OSLO"
-}
-
-
-The interpretation of the fields can be found in the
-
format
-specification (revision 2 from june 2014). The format seem to
-have most of the information needed to handle accounting and payment
-of invoices, at least the fields I have needed so far here in
-Norway.
-
-
Unfortunately, the site and document do not mention anything about
-the patent, trademark and copyright status of the format and the
-specification. Because of this, I asked the people behind it back in
-November to clarify. Ann-Christine Savlid (ann-christine.savlid (at)
-visma.com) replied that Visma had not applied for patent or trademark
-protection for this format, and that there were no copyright based
-usage limitations for the format. I urged her to make sure this was
-explicitly written on the web pages and in the specification, but
-unfortunately this has not happened yet. So I guess if there is
-submarine patents, hidden trademarks or a will to sue for copyright
-infringements, those starting to use the UsingQR format might be at
-risk, but if this happen there is some legal defense in the fact that
-the people behind the format claimed it was safe to do so. At least
-with patents, there is always
-a
-chance of getting sued...
-
-
I also asked if they planned to maintain the format in an
-independent standard organization to give others more confidence that
-they would participate in the standardization process on equal terms
-with Visma, but they had no immediate plans for this. Their plan was
-to work with banks to try to get more users of the format, and
-evaluate the way forward if the format proved to be popular. I hope
-they conclude that using an open standard organisation like
-IETF is the correct place to
-maintain such specification.
-
-
Update 2016-03-20: Via Twitter I became aware of
-some comments
-about this blog post that had several useful links and references to
-similar systems. In the Czech republic, the Czech Banking Association
-standard #26, with short name SPAYD, uses QR codes with payment
-information. More information is available from the Wikipedia page on
-Short
-Payment Descriptor. And in Germany, there is a system named
-BezahlCode,
-(specification
-v1.8 2013-12-05 available as PDF), which uses QR codes with
-URL-like formatting using "bank:" as the URI schema/protocol to
-provide the payment information. There is also the
-ZUGFeRD
-file format that perhaps could be transfered using QR codes, but I am
-not sure if it is done already. Last, in Bolivia there are reports
-that tax information since november 2014 need to be printed in QR
-format on invoices. I have not been able to track down a
-specification for this format, because of my limited language skill
-sets.
-
