GR-R-003: For the Greek Suppliers, the VAT must start with 'EL' and…

StandardPeppol BIS Billing 3.0 country rules (NL, DE, IT, SE, DK, NO, GR, IS)CountryGreeceSeverityError: the invoice is rejectedSyntaxUBLApplies toOnly when the seller (or for some rules the buyer) is in the named country: the rule is triggered by the country code of the party. Dutch rules implement NLCIUS, German rules the XRechnung requirements inside Peppol.

Official rule text

[GR-R-003] For the Greek Suppliers, the VAT must start with 'EL' and must be a valid TIN number

Why this error occurs

The element is mandatory in this standard but is missing or empty in your file. Typical causes: the field is not filled in the invoicing software, the ERP export does not map it, or the element is present but contains only whitespace.

How to fix it

Add the element with a non-empty value at the position given by the context above. Check the master data (seller, buyer, payment) in your invoicing software; most tools expose the field under the business term name shown here. Re-validate after the change.

What the validator checks

Checked element (context):

UBL

cac:AccountingSupplierParty[$isGreekSender]/cac:Party/cac:PartyTaxScheme[normalize-space(cac:TaxScheme/cbc:ID) = 'VAT']/cbc:CompanyID

Test (XPath):

substring(.,1,2) = 'EL' and u:TinVerification(substring(.,3))

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

GR-R-002 Greek Suppliers must provide their full name as they are registered in the Greek…
GR-R-005 Greek Suppliers must provide the full name of the buyer
GR-R-006 Greek Suppliers must provide the VAT number of the buyer, if the buyer is Greek
GR-R-009 Greek suppliers that send an invoice through the PEPPOL network must use a correct TIN…
GR-R-010 Greek Suppliers that send an invoice through the PEPPOL network to a greek buyer must…

Frequently asked questions

What does GR-R-003 mean?

GR-R-003 is a peppol national rule: For the Greek Suppliers, the VAT must start with 'EL' and must be a valid TIN number

Will my invoice be rejected because of GR-R-003?

Yes. GR-R-003 is flagged "fatal"; validators (KoSIT, Peppol access points, the German ZRE/OZG-RE portals, KSeF) reject the invoice until it is fixed.

Which formats does GR-R-003 apply to?

Only when the seller (or for some rules the buyer) is in the named country: the rule is triggered by the country code of the party. Dutch rules implement NLCIUS, German rules the XRechnung requirements inside Peppol. Syntax: UBL.

Source: Peppol BIS Billing 3.0.20 national rules (November 2025). Catalogue generated from the official rule sets on 2026-10-15.

GR-R-003: For the Greek Suppliers, the VAT must start with 'EL' and must be a valid TIN number