blog/data/2016-03-19-qr-invoice.txt

   1 Title: UsingQR - "Electronic" paper invoices using JSON and QR codes
   2 Tags: english, standard
   3 Date: 2016-03-19 09:40
   4
   5 <p>Back in 2013 I proposed
   6 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_Electronic__paper_invoices___using_vCard_in_a_QR_code.html">a
   7 way to make paper and PDF invoices easier to process electronically by
   8 adding a QR code with the key information about the invoice</a>.  I
   9 suggested using vCard field definition, to get some standard format
  10 for name and address, but any format would work.  I did not do
  11 anything about the proposal, but hoped someone one day would make
  12 something like it.  It would make it possible to efficiently send
  13 machine readable invoices directly between seller and buyer.</p>
  14
  15 <p>This was the background when I came across a proposal and
  16 specification from the web based accounting and invoicing supplier
  17 <a href="http://www.visma.com/">Visma</a> in Sweden called
  18 <a href="http://usingqr.com/">UsingQR</a>.  Their PDF invoices contain
  19 a QR code with the key information of the invoice in JSON format.
  20 This is the typical content of a QR code following the UsingQR
  21 specification (based on a real world example, some numbers replaced to
  22 get a more bogus entry).  I've reformatted the JSON to make it easier
  23 to read.  Normally this is all on one long line:</p>
  24
  25 <p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-03-19-qr-invoice.png" align="right"><pre>
  26 {
  27  "vh":500.00,
  28  "vm":0,
  29  "vl":0,
  30  "uqr":1,
  31  "tp":1,
  32  "nme":"Din Leverandør",
  33  "cc":"NO",
  34  "cid":"997912345 MVA",
  35  "iref":"12300001",
  36  "idt":"20151022",
  37  "ddt":"20151105",
  38  "due":2500.0000,
  39  "cur":"NOK",
  40  "pt":"BBAN",
  41  "acc":"17202612345",
  42  "bc":"BIENNOK1",
  43  "adr":"0313 OSLO"
  44 }
  45 </pre></p>
  46
  47 </p>The interpretation of the fields can be found in the
  48 <a href="http://usingqr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/UsingQR_specification1.pdf">format
  49 specification</a> (revision 2 from june 2014).  The format seem to
  50 have most of the information needed to handle accounting and payment
  51 of invoices, at least the fields I have needed so far here in
  52 Norway.</p>
  53
  54 <p>Unfortunately, the site and document do not mention anything about
  55 the patent, trademark and copyright status of the format and the
  56 specification.  Because of this, I asked the people behind it back in
  57 November to clarify.  Ann-Christine Savlid (ann-christine.savlid (at)
  58 visma.com) replied that Visma had not applied for patent or trademark
  59 protection for this format, and that there were no copyright based
  60 usage limitations for the format.  I urged her to make sure this was
  61 explicitly written on the web pages and in the specification, but
  62 unfortunately this has not happened yet.  So I guess if there is
  63 submarine patents, hidden trademarks or a will to sue for copyright
  64 infringements, those starting to use the UsingQR format might be at
  65 risk, but if this happen there is some legal defense in the fact that
  66 the people behind the format claimed it was safe to do so.  At least
  67 with patents, there is always
  68 <a href="http://www.paperspecs.com/paper-news/beware-the-qr-code-patent-trap/">a
  69 chance of getting sued...</a></p>
  70
  71 <p>I also asked if they planned to maintain the format in an
  72 independent standard organization to give others more confidence that
  73 they would participate in the standardization process on equal terms
  74 with Visma, but they had no immediate plans for this.  Their plan was
  75 to work with banks to try to get more users of the format, and
  76 evaluate the way forward if the format proved to be popular.  I hope
  77 they conclude that using an open standard organisation like
  78 <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> is the correct place to
  79 maintain such specification.</p>
  80
  81 <p><strong>Update 2016-03-20</strong>: Via Twitter I became aware of
  82 <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11319492">some comments
  83 about this blog post</a> that had several useful links and references to
  84 similar systems.  In the Czech republic, the Czech Banking Association
  85 standard #26, with short name SPAYD, uses QR codes with payment
  86 information.  More information is available from the Wikipedia page on
  87 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Payment_Descriptor">Short
  88 Payment Descriptor</a>.  And in Germany, there is a system named
  89 <a href="http://www.bezahlcode.de/">BezahlCode</a>,
  90 (<a href="http://www.bezahlcode.de/wp-content/uploads/BezahlCode_TechDok.pdf">specification
  91 v1.8 2013-12-05 available as PDF</a>), which uses QR codes with
  92 URL-like formatting using "bank:" as the URI schema/protocol to
  93 provide the payment information.  There is also the
  94 <a href="http://www.ferd-net.de/front_content.php?idcat=231">ZUGFeRD</a>
  95 file format that perhaps could be transfered using QR codes, but I am
  96 not sure if it is done already.  Last, in Bolivia there are reports
  97 that tax information since november 2014 need to be printed in QR
  98 format on invoices.  I have not been able to track down a
  99 specification for this format, because of my limited language skill
 100 sets.</p>