`BR-11`

EN 16931 · validation rule

EN 16931Error

The buyer address has no country code (BT-55). The sender must fill cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode / ram:CountryID in the buyer's postal address with an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code.

Field: buyer.address.country (BT-55)
Rule set: EN 16931
Rule-set version: EN 16931 validation artefacts 1.3.17 · in force since 2026-10-13 · Rule-set changelog
Who has to fix it: The sender

This is a property of the file you received, so it cannot be corrected on your side without changing the document — ask the supplier to reissue it.

Worked example · UBL

Street, city and postcode are not enough: the buyer address needs cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode (BT-55), an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code.

Fails this rule

<cac:PostalAddress>
  <cbc:StreetName>Beispielweg 2</cbc:StreetName>
  <cbc:CityName>Hamburg</cbc:CityName>
  <cbc:PostalZone>20095</cbc:PostalZone>
</cac:PostalAddress>

Passes

<cac:PostalAddress>
  <cbc:StreetName>Beispielweg 2</cbc:StreetName>
  <cbc:CityName>Hamburg</cbc:CityName>
  <cbc:PostalZone>20095</cbc:PostalZone>
  <cac:Country>
    <cbc:IdentificationCode>DE</cbc:IdentificationCode>
  </cac:Country>
</cac:PostalAddress>

Worked example · CII

Fails this rule

<ram:PostalTradeAddress>
  <ram:PostcodeCode>20095</ram:PostcodeCode>
  <ram:LineOne>Beispielweg 2</ram:LineOne>
  <ram:CityName>Hamburg</ram:CityName>
</ram:PostalTradeAddress>

Passes

<ram:PostalTradeAddress>
  <ram:PostcodeCode>20095</ram:PostcodeCode>
  <ram:LineOne>Beispielweg 2</ram:LineOne>
  <ram:CityName>Hamburg</ram:CityName>
  <ram:CountryID>DE</ram:CountryID>
</ram:PostalTradeAddress>

Check your own invoice

Drop the file that failed. We parse it, run the official rule sets against it and list every finding with a fix — 20 invoices per day, no key, nothing stored.

Open the live demo

Same explanation over the API: GET /v1/rules/BR-11?lang=en