BR-CL-14: Country code is not an ISO 3166-1 code

Official rule text

[BR-CL-14] Country codes in an invoice MUST be coded using ISO code list 3166-1

Why this error occurs

All country codes in the invoice (seller, buyer, delivery, payee, tax representative addresses and item origin country) must be ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes. The rule checks every cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode (UBL) and ram:CountryID (CII). It fails on country names, alpha-3 codes (DEU), lowercase (de), or EL, which is only permitted as a VAT prefix, not as country code (use GR).

How to fix it

Convert country values to two-letter upper-case ISO 3166-1 codes in the export mapping: DE, AT, CH, NL, FR, GB. Use GR for Greece and 1A for Kosovo. Apply the mapping to every address block, including cac:Delivery/cac:DeliveryLocation/cac:Address and cac:Item/cac:OriginCountry, and remove surrounding whitespace.

Example (valid)

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

What the validator checks

Checked element (context):

UBL

cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode

Test (XPath):

((not(contains(normalize-space(.), ' ')) and contains(' 1A AD AE AF AG AI AL AM AO AQ AR AS AT AU AW AX AZ BA BB BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ BL BM BN BO BQ BR BS BT BV BW BY BZ CA CC CD CF CG CH CI CK CL CM CN CO CR CU CV CW CX CY CZ DE DJ DK DM DO DZ EC EE EG EH ER ES ET FI FJ FK FM FO FR GA GB GD GE GF GG GH GI GL GM GN GP GQ GR GS GT GU GW GY HK HM HN HR HT HU ID IE IL IM IN IO IQ IR IS IT JE JM JO JP KE KG KH KI KM KN KP KR KW KY KZ LA LB LC LI LK LR LS LT LU LV LY MA MC MD ME MF MG MH MK ML MM MN MO MP MQ MR MS MT MU MV MW MX MY MZ NA NC NE NF NG NI NL NO NP NR NU NZ OM PA PE PF PG PH PK PL PM PN PR PS PT PW PY QA RE RO RS RU RW SA SB SC SD SE SG SH SI SJ SK SL SM SN SO SR SS ST SV SX SY SZ TC TD TF TG TH TJ TK TL TM TN TO TR TT TV TW TZ UA UG UM US UY UZ VA VC VE VG VI VN VU WF WS XI YE YT ZA ZM ZW ', concat(' ', normalize-space(.), ' '))))

CII

ram:CountryID

Test (XPath):

((not(contains(normalize-space(.), ' ')) and contains(' 1A AD AE AF AG AI AL AM AN AO AQ AR AS AT AU AW AX AZ BA BB BD BE BF BG BH BI BL BJ BM BN BO BQ BR BS BT BV BW BY BZ CA CC CD CF CG CH CI CK CL CM CN CO CR CU CV CW CX CY CZ DE DJ DK DM DO DZ EC EE EG EH ER ES ET FI FJ FK FM FO FR GA GB GD GE GF GG GH GI GL GM GN GP GQ GR GS GT GU GW GY HK HM HN HR HT HU ID IE IL IM IN IO IQ IR IS IT JE JM JO JP KE KG KH KI KM KN KP KR KW KY KZ LA LB LC LI LK LR LS LT LU LV LY MA MC MD ME MF MG MH MK ML MM MN MO MP MQ MR MS MT MU MV MW MX MY MZ NA NC NE NF NG NI NL NO NP NR NU NZ OM PA PE PF PG PH PK PL PM PN PR PS PT PW PY QA RE RO RS RU RW SA SB SC SD SE SG SH SI SJ SK SL SM SN SO SR ST SV SX SY SZ TC TD TF TG TH TJ TK TL TM TN TO TR TT TV TW TZ UA UG UM US UY UZ VA VC VE VG VI VN VU WF WS XI YE YT ZA ZM ZW ', concat(' ', normalize-space(.), ' '))))

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Related rules

• BR-CL-01 Invoice type code is not a valid UNTDID 1001 code
• BR-CL-03 currencyID attribute is not an ISO 4217 code
• BR-CL-04 Invoice currency code is not an ISO 4217 code
• BR-CL-05 Tax currency code MUST be coded using ISO code list 4217 alpha-3
• BR-CL-06 Value added tax point date code MUST be coded using a restriction of UNTDID 2005
• BR-CL-07 Object identifier identification scheme identifier MUST be coded using a restriction…
• BR-CL-08 Invoiced note subject code shall be coded using UNCL4451
• BR-CL-10 Party identifier scheme is not an ISO 6523 ICD code

Frequently asked questions

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