BR-06: Seller name (BT-27) is missing – e-invoice error explained

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

BT-27 Seller name

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-06] An Invoice shall contain the Seller name (BT-27).

Why this error occurs

The rule checks that the seller's legal name is present: cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:PartyLegalEntity/cbc:RegistrationName in UBL, ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:Name in CII. The full name of the supplier is a mandatory VAT invoice element. In UBL this error is very often caused by software that writes the name only into cac:PartyName/cbc:Name (which is the trading name, BT-28) and leaves the PartyLegalEntity block out.

How to fix it

In UBL add cac:PartyLegalEntity with cbc:RegistrationName under cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party; keep cac:PartyName for the trading name if you have one, but it does not satisfy this rule. In CII set ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:Name under ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement. Use the registered company name including the legal form (GmbH, AG, e.K.).

Example (valid)

<cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
  <cac:Party>
    <cac:PartyLegalEntity>
      <cbc:RegistrationName>Muster GmbH</cbc:RegistrationName>
    </cac:PartyLegalEntity>
  </cac:Party>
</cac:AccountingSupplierParty>

What the validator checks

Checked element (context):

UBL

/ubl:Invoice | /cn:CreditNote

Test (XPath):

normalize-space(cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:PartyLegalEntity/cbc:RegistrationName) != ''

CII

/rsm:CrossIndustryInvoice

Test (XPath):

normalize-space(rsm:SupplyChainTradeTransaction/ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement/ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:Name) != ''

Check your invoice

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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-03 Invoice issue date (BT-2) is missing
BR-04 Invoice type code (BT-3) is missing
BR-05 Invoice currency code (BT-5) 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-06 mean?

BR-06 is a en 16931 core rule: An Invoice shall contain the Seller name (BT-27).

Will my invoice be rejected because of BR-06?

Yes. BR-06 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-06 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.