PEPPOL-EN16931-R020: Seller electronic address (BT-34) is missing

StandardPeppol BIS Billing 3.0 (OpenPeppol)SeverityError: the invoice is rejectedSyntaxUBL, CIIApplies toInvoices and credit notes sent over the Peppol network (UBL) and, because XRechnung embeds the Peppol rule set, every XRechnung as well.

Official rule text

[PEPPOL-EN16931-R020] Seller electronic address MUST be provided

Why this error occurs

Peppol BIS requires the seller's electronic address so the buyer can send responses and the network can identify the sender. The rule checks cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cbc:EndpointID (UBL) or ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:URIUniversalCommunication/ram:URIID (CII). It is usually missing because the own company's Peppol identifier was never entered in the invoicing software.

How to fix it

In UBL add cbc:EndpointID as the first child of cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party with the seller's Peppol participant identifier and a schemeID from the EAS list, e.g. 0088 (GLN), 9930 (German VAT ID), 0192 (Norwegian org. no.), 0007 (Swedish org. no.). In CII add ram:URIUniversalCommunication/ram:URIID with schemeID under ram:SellerTradeParty. Use the identifier under which you are registered at your access point.

Example (valid)

<cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
  <cac:Party>
    <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="9930">DE123456789</cbc:EndpointID>
    ...
  </cac:Party>
</cac:AccountingSupplierParty>

What the validator checks

Checked element (context):

UBL

cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party

Test (XPath):

cbc:EndpointID

CII

ram:SellerTradeParty

Test (XPath):

ram:URIUniversalCommunication/ram:URIID

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Related rules

PEPPOL-EN16931-R001 Business process identifier (BT-23) is missing
PEPPOL-EN16931-R002 No more than one note is allowed on document level, unless both the buyer and seller…
PEPPOL-EN16931-R003 Neither buyer reference nor purchase order reference given
PEPPOL-EN16931-R004 Specification identifier is not the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 identifier
PEPPOL-EN16931-R005 VAT accounting currency equals the invoice currency
PEPPOL-EN16931-R006 Only one invoiced object is allowed on document level
PEPPOL-EN16931-R007 Business process identifier has the wrong format
PEPPOL-EN16931-R008 Document contains empty elements

Frequently asked questions

What does PEPPOL-EN16931-R020 mean?

PEPPOL-EN16931-R020 is a peppol bis billing 3.0 rule: Seller electronic address MUST be provided

Will my invoice be rejected because of PEPPOL-EN16931-R020?

Yes. PEPPOL-EN16931-R020 is flagged "fatal"; validators (KoSIT, Peppol access points, the German ZRE/OZG-RE portals) reject the invoice until it is fixed.

Which formats does PEPPOL-EN16931-R020 apply to?

Invoices and credit notes sent over the Peppol network (UBL) and, because XRechnung embeds the Peppol rule set, every XRechnung as well. Syntax: UBL and CII.

Source: Peppol BIS Billing 3.0.20 (November 2025). Catalogue generated from the official schematron on 2026-10-14.