BR-09: Seller country code (BT-40) is missing

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

BG-5 Seller postal address
BT-40 Seller country code

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-09] The Seller postal address (BG-5) shall contain a Seller country code (BT-40).

Why this error occurs

Inside the seller postal address the rule requires a country code: cac:PostalAddress/cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode in UBL, ram:PostalTradeAddress/ram:CountryID in CII. The country is the only address component the standard makes mandatory because it determines the VAT regime and the applicable e-invoicing rules. Typical causes are a country stored as a name ("Deutschland") in the ERP and not converted to a code, or a missing cac:Country wrapper.

How to fix it

In UBL add cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode inside cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:PostalAddress (it is the last child of PostalAddress). In CII add ram:CountryID as the last child of ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:PostalTradeAddress. Use an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code in upper case, e.g. DE, AT, NL, FR; not DEU, not GER, not the country name.

Example (valid)

<cac:Country>
  <cbc:IdentificationCode>DE</cbc:IdentificationCode>
</cac:Country>

What the validator checks

Checked element (context):

UBL

cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:PostalAddress

Test (XPath):

normalize-space(cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode) != ''

CII

/rsm:CrossIndustryInvoice

Test (XPath):

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

Check your invoice

Drop your XML or PDF on the validator and every failed rule is linked to its page here. Free, no account, the file is not stored.

Check your invoice →

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-07 Buyer name (BT-44) is missing
BR-08 Seller postal address is missing

Frequently asked questions

What does BR-09 mean?

BR-09 is a en 16931 core rule: The Seller postal address (BG-5) shall contain a Seller country code (BT-40).

Will my invoice be rejected because of BR-09?

Yes. BR-09 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-09 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.