BR-07: Buyer name (BT-44) is missing – e-invoice error explained

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

BT-44 Buyer 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-07] An Invoice shall contain the Buyer name (BT-44).

Why this error occurs

The rule checks that the buyer's legal name is present: cac:AccountingCustomerParty/cac:Party/cac:PartyLegalEntity/cbc:RegistrationName in UBL, ram:BuyerTradeParty/ram:Name in CII. The recipient's name is a mandatory VAT invoice element and is what the receiving system uses to check that the invoice is addressed to the right legal entity. As with the seller, UBL exports often put the name only in cac:PartyName, which does not count.

How to fix it

In UBL add cac:PartyLegalEntity/cbc:RegistrationName under cac:AccountingCustomerParty/cac:Party. In CII set ram:BuyerTradeParty/ram:Name under ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement. Use the customer's registered name from your master data, not a contact person; the contact person belongs in cac:Contact / ram:DefinedTradeContact.

Example (valid)

<cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
  <cac:Party>
    <cac:PartyLegalEntity>
      <cbc:RegistrationName>Beispiel AG</cbc:RegistrationName>
    </cac:PartyLegalEntity>
  </cac:Party>
</cac:AccountingCustomerParty>

What the validator checks

Checked element (context):

UBL

/ubl:Invoice | /cn:CreditNote

Test (XPath):

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

CII

/rsm:CrossIndustryInvoice

Test (XPath):

normalize-space(rsm:SupplyChainTradeTransaction/ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement/ram:BuyerTradeParty/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-06 Seller name (BT-27) is missing
BR-08 Seller postal address is missing
BR-09 Seller country code (BT-40) is missing

Frequently asked questions

What does BR-07 mean?

BR-07 is a en 16931 core rule: An Invoice shall contain the Buyer name (BT-44).

Will my invoice be rejected because of BR-07?

Yes. BR-07 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-07 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.