You send a Peppol invoice to a major client, but it never reaches the right department. Or a client suddenly asks you to use their GLN number instead of their VAT number, and you’re not quite sure what to do about it. For finance teams at companies with multiple locations or entities, these kinds of questions are coming up more and more often. It’s time to explain exactly what a GLN number is, when you need one, and what it means for your invoicing process.
What can you read on this page?
What is a GLN number?
A GLN (Global Location Number) is a unique 13-digit number that unambiguously identifies a location or entity. This can be a legal entity, but it can also be a functional entity—such as your accounting department—or a physical location, such as a warehouse or loading dock. A GLN is unique worldwide.
GLN numbers have been around for some time and are primarily used in logistics. With the rise of e-invoicing, they are now also appearing in that field. On In the Peppol network, a GLN is registered under the so-called 0088 identifier scheme. That sounds technical, but it simply means that the “0088” prefix before the number indicates that this is a GLN. A Peppol identifier based on a GLN looks like this: 0088:5412345000013.
Here’s a handy way to tell the difference between your VAT number and a GLN: your VAT number is the address of your company’s building, while a GLN is the address of a specific floor or even a particular office within that building.
What is a GLN used for in Peppol?
A GLN comes into play in two situations with Peppol, and it is important to distinguish between them.
- You receive invoices via GLN
If your organization wants to receive invoices by department or by invoice type—for example, internal costs separate from products for resale—you’ll need a GLN. This is particularly relevant for companies with a single business ID but multiple billing points, such as a hospital group, a retail chain, or a construction group with various entities. - You send invoices to a customer with a GLN
There’s a simple rule here: you should only use your customer’s GLN if they explicitly request it for Peppol invoicing. In most cases, the VAT number remains the standard identifier. So you don’t need to look up a GLN for every customer.
The sectors where this is most common are retail and FMCG (large chains already use GLNs for their stores and distribution centers), healthcare, organizations with multiple departments or cost centers, and the transportation and logistics sector.
One thing to keep in mind: even though you can look up GLNs, that doesn’t replace asking your customer. A company with dozens of locations has dozens of GLNs, and no database will tell you which number corresponds to the correct billing address for your specific invoice. Furthermore, your invoicing software cannot automatically deduce it from a VAT number. So always have your customer confirm the GLN and use the lookup tools to verify the information you receive.
When does a company not need a GLN?
For Nymus, ISO certification was not a response to a regulatory requirement, but a deliberate choice made as part of its growth strategy.
First, Nymus primarily works with larger companies. These companies often have strict supplier evaluation processes in place and expect their key partners to demonstrate a certain level of information security. ISO/IEC 27001 is the recognized standard for this purpose.
Second, Nymus wants to expand its operations abroad, such as to the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, government agencies already require ISO certification as a prerequisite for recognition as a Peppol Access Point. Without certification, access to that market is not possible.
Earning the certification was not an end in itself, but rather a confirmation of how Nymus was already operating and a prerequisite for the next step.
What will change for existing Nymus customers?
If you have only one location, you don’t need to apply for a GLN. You simply provide your company number or VAT number, and that’s all you need to operate on Peppol. For most Belgian companies, that’s sufficient. A GLN only becomes relevant once you want to send or receive invoices to or from a more specific destination than “the company as a whole.”
How do you apply for a GLN number?
You can apply for a GLN through the online platform of GS1, the organization that manages and standardizes these numbers worldwide. In Belgium, that is GS1 Belgium & Luxembourg; in the Netherlands, it is GS1 Nederland.
If you already have a GS1 membership—for example, for barcodes or GTINs on products—you can find your GLN in your “My GS1” account. Your primary GLN is automatically generated there; you can add additional GLNs yourself. Please note that by default, every GLN you add is publicly accessible via the GS1 Belgilux GLN Database. If you do not want this, you can notify GS1.
You can often find an existing GLN on digital invoices, purchase orders, and packing slips, or you can simply request it from your supplier or customer.
Please keep in mind that applying for a GLN through GS1 requires membership and involves a fee. The exact terms and conditions vary by country, so check with your local GS1 organization.
GLN, VAT number, or business number: —when do you use which one?
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When to use
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Identifier to use
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|---|---|
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One Belgian company, one location
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VAT number or KBO number
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A company with multiple locations or departments, each of which receives separate invoices
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GLN by location or department
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Foreign company without a Belgian VAT number on Peppol
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Often a GLN or another scheme
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The customer specifically requests GLN routing
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Often a GLN or another scheme
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Look up and verify a GLN number
There are three sources, each of which solves a different piece of the puzzle.
- The GS1 Belgilux GLN Database. Here, you can look up other companies’ GLNs by GLN, company prefix, address, or company name. You don’t need to be a GS1 member: simply registering for My GS1 is all you need to perform a search. However, companies may choose not to make their GLNs public, so an empty result does not mean that a GLN does not exist.
- Verified by GS1. This is the global successor to GEPIR. You enter a GLN and see which organization is associated with it. It’s the perfect way to verify whether a number you’ve been given actually belongs to your customer.
- The Peppol Directory. This allows you to check whether an identifier—including GLNs with the prefix 0088—is registered on the Peppol network. Important: Publication in the Directory is not mandatory and is handled through the recipient’s SMP service provider. Therefore, a party can be fully accessible on Peppol without being listed in the Directory. Use the Directory to find a party and perform a direct lookup to confirm.
If you just want to quickly check whether a customer or supplier is already reachable via Peppol, you can do so using Nymus’s Peppol Lookup tool. In short: you can look it up, but none of these sources will tell you which GLN your customer wants to use for your invoices. You’ll need to get that confirmation from the customer directly, and then verify the number before entering it into your system.
What does this mean, specifically, for your ERP and invoicing process?
This is the part that’s often missing from explanations about GLNs, and that’s exactly where the problem often lies for larger organizations.
If you have customers with a GLN, you must enter that number correctly in your ERP or invoicing software. In complex ERP environments such as SAP, Business Central, or Oracle, this isn’t always handled out-of-the-box. It requires that you know where such an identifier belongs and how your system handles it.
If your company receives invoices via multiple GLNs, your accounts payable process must be able to handle that routing. If it can’t, invoices will still end up in the wrong place or have to be forwarded manually. And then you lose the very automation benefit that led you to use Peppol in the first place.
Peppol is often portrayed as a button you can activate with a single click, but in practice, that’s rarely the case—especially for companies with multiple ERP systems, complex invoicing structures, and a high volume of invoices. GLN routing is another detail that most companies underestimate during their Peppol implementation. These are precisely the situations we at Nymus deal with every day when working with clients who have complex structures: it’s not a question of what a GLN is, but how to ensure that every invoice, for every entity, automatically ends up in the right place.
Would you like to check whether your ERP and invoicing processes are ready for GLN routing? Find out how we Implementing e-invoicing for organizations with complex structures.
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
What is a GLN number?
A GLN number, or Global Location Number, is a unique 13-digit number that identifies a location or entity. This can be a legal entity, a department, or a physical location such as a warehouse. GLNs are issued by GS1 and are unique worldwide.
How many digits are in a GLN number?
A GLN always consists of 13 digits. On the Peppol network, it is preceded by the prefix 0088, for example, 0088:5412345000013.
What does the prefix 0088 mean in Peppol?
The prefix 0088 is the identifier scheme used in Peppol to indicate that the identifier is a GLN. It essentially tells the network: the number that follows is a Global Location Number.
Do I need a GLN for e-invoicing via Peppol?
Not necessarily. If you have a single location, your VAT number or business registration number is sufficient. You only need a GLN if you want to receive invoices by department, location, or entity, or if a customer explicitly asks you to use their GLN.
What is the difference between a GLN and a VAT number?
How can I look up a GLN number?
You can do this through the GS1 Belgilux GLN Database, where you can search by GLN, company prefix, address, or company name after registering for My GS1. Globally, you can verify a GLN through Verified by GS1, the successor to GEPIR. And through the Peppol Directory, you can see whether a GLN is registered on the network. None of these sources is complete, and they do not tell you which GLN your customer wants to use for invoicing. So always check with the customer and use the tools to verify the number to be provided.
How much does a GLN number cost?
Applying for a GLN requires GS1 membership, which involves a fee. The exact cost depends on the type of membership and the country where you apply. However, you can look up someone else’s GLN in the GLN Database without a membership.
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