BR-03: Invoice issue date (BT-2) is missing

StandardEN 16931-1 (European e-invoicing semantic model)SeverityError: the invoice is rejectedSyntaxUBL, CIIBusiness terms

BT-2 Invoice issue date

Applies toEvery EN 16931 invoice: XRechnung, ZUGFeRD 2.x / Factur-X (profiles EN 16931, EXTENDED, XRECHNUNG), Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, and national CIUS such as the Dutch NLCIUS or the Italian/Spanish profiles.

Official rule text

[BR-03] An Invoice shall have an Invoice issue date (BT-2).

Why this error occurs

The rule checks that the issue date is present: cbc:IssueDate in UBL, or rsm:ExchangedDocument/ram:IssueDateTime/udt:DateTimeString with format="102" in CII. The issue date is a legal mandatory field and the base for payment terms and VAT period. Typical causes are an empty date field in the export mapping or, in CII, a DateTimeString without the format attribute or with a format other than 102, which the test does not accept.

How to fix it

In UBL add cbc:IssueDate in ISO format YYYY-MM-DD right after cbc:ID. In CII add rsm:ExchangedDocument/ram:IssueDateTime/udt:DateTimeString with the attribute format="102" and the value as YYYYMMDD (no dashes). Do not use dd.MM.yyyy, a time part or a different format code; one date only, no time zone.

Example (valid)

<cbc:IssueDate>2026-10-14</cbc:IssueDate>

What the validator checks

Checked element (context):

UBL

/ubl:Invoice | /cn:CreditNote

Test (XPath):

normalize-space(cbc:IssueDate) != ''

CII

/rsm:CrossIndustryInvoice

Test (XPath):

normalize-space(rsm:ExchangedDocument/ram:IssueDateTime/udt:DateTimeString[@format='102']) != ''

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Same check via API:

curl -F file=@invoice.xml https://einvoicechecker.com/v1/validate

Related rules

BR-01 Specification identifier (BT-24) is missing
BR-02 Invoice number (BT-1) is missing
BR-04 Invoice type code (BT-3) is missing
BR-05 Invoice currency code (BT-5) is missing
BR-06 Seller name (BT-27) is missing
BR-07 Buyer name (BT-44) is missing
BR-08 Seller postal address is missing
BR-09 Seller country code (BT-40) is missing

Frequently asked questions

What does BR-03 mean?

BR-03 is a en 16931 core rule: An Invoice shall have an Invoice issue date (BT-2).

Will my invoice be rejected because of BR-03?

Yes. BR-03 is flagged "fatal"; validators (KoSIT, Peppol access points, the German ZRE/OZG-RE portals) reject the invoice until it is fixed.

Which formats does BR-03 apply to?

Every EN 16931 invoice: XRechnung, ZUGFeRD 2.x / Factur-X (profiles EN 16931, EXTENDED, XRECHNUNG), Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, and national CIUS such as the Dutch NLCIUS or the Italian/Spanish profiles. Syntax: UBL and CII.

Source: EN 16931-1:2017 schematron (CEN TC434, via Peppol BIS 3.0.20). Catalogue generated from the official schematron on 2026-10-14.