What is a PDP? The Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire, explained

A PDP — Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire, a “partner dematerialization platform” — is a private operator registered by the French tax authority (DGFiP) to transmit, receive, and report electronic invoices under France’s e-invoicing reform. From the start of the mandate, a PDP is the route an invoice actually travels between a French seller and buyer and the way invoice and payment data reach the administration. It is a transmission and reporting role — not a document-design tool.

Why a PDP is now mandatory

France’s reform originally planned a free public portal — the PPF (Portail Public de Facturation) — that businesses could use to exchange invoices directly. In October 2024 the DGFiP announced the PPF would not provide that free exchange service. The PPF’s role narrowed to a central recipient directory (the annuaire that says which platform serves which company) and a data concentrator for the tax authority. The practical consequence: to issue or receive a compliant e-invoice, a French business must connect through a registered PDP. There is no free government pipe to fall back on.

What a PDP actually does

• Transmits invoices between the seller’s and buyer’s platforms (often over the Peppol network or a PDP-to-PDP interconnect).
• Receives inbound invoices on your behalf and makes them available to you in a structured form.
• Converts between accepted formats — the reform mandates the EN 16931 core in three forms: Factur-X (hybrid PDF), UBL, and CII.
• Extracts and reports the required invoice data, plus e-reporting of payment status and of transactions outside the domestic B2B scope (B2C and cross-border), to the DGFiP via the PPF.
• Is registered — the DGFiP grants a PDP an immatriculation for a renewable term after an audit; an in-house platform can also be registered if it meets the bar.

PDP vs OD vs format generator

These are different jobs, and a tool usually does one of them:

• PDP — registered to transmit, receive, and report. The only role allowed to send invoices directly to another platform and to push e-reporting to the PPF.
• OD (Opérateur de Dématérialisation) — a dematerialization operator that helps you produce or handle invoices but is not registered to transmit on its own; it must connect through a PDP or the PPF.
• Format generator / validator — software that produces the compliant invoice document (the EN 16931 CII/UBL XML or the Factur-X PDF) and checks it. This is where Slipstack sits.

Where Slipstack fits — and where it does not

Slipstack is a format generator and validator, not a PDP. It turns the JSON you already use into a compliant e-invoice document — a Factur-X / ZUGFeRD hybrid PDF or standalone EN 16931 CII / UBL XML — and validates the core rules. It does not transmit invoices, exchange them with your buyers, or report anything to the PPF. You choose a registered PDP for transmission and e-reporting; Slipstack produces and checks the file that flows through it. We are not registered with the DGFiP and do not claim to be.

Validate the document before your PDP sees it

Whether Slipstack builds your XML or your own code does, paste or upload the CII (or UBL) into the free EN 16931 / XRechnung core validator — up to 20 checks a day, no signup. Scope, stated plainly: it checks the EN 16931 core schematron (ConnectingEurope release v1.3.16). It does not check the KoSIT XRechnung CIUS, Peppol BIS, or any PDP-specific rules, which are stricter.

Mandate context by country: France e-invoicing mandate · Germany e-invoicing mandate.