Reference

BR-CL-14 Country codes must use ISO 3166-1

Every country code in an address, such as the seller (BT-40), buyer (BT-55), tax representative (BT-69) or deliver-to (BT-80) country, must be an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code.

The rule checks cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode in UBL and ram:CountryID in CII. It fails when an ERP exports three-letter codes (DEU), country names or lowercase codes, and in two common special cases: UK is not an ISO 3166-1 code (use GB), and EL is only the Greek VAT prefix, while the Greek country code is GR. Example: a buyer in Athens has BT-55 = GR, although its VAT identifier starts with EL.

Solution

Use the two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code in capital letters, e.g. DE for Germany, FR for France or GB for the United Kingdom. In addresses, Greece is GR (not EL) and Northern Ireland is XI.

Quick actions

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Valid Examples

BT-40 = DE
BT-55 = GB — United Kingdom
BT-55 = GR — Greece

Invalid Examples

BT-55 = UK — not an ISO 3166-1 code; use GB
BT-55 = EL — Greek VAT prefix; use GR
BT-40 = DEU — three letters, not alpha-2

Code Examples

Valid XML

<cac:PostalAddress>
  <cac:Country>
    <cbc:IdentificationCode>GB</cbc:IdentificationCode>
  </cac:Country>
</cac:PostalAddress>

Invalid XML

<cac:PostalAddress>
  <cac:Country>
    <cbc:IdentificationCode>UK</cbc:IdentificationCode>
  </cac:Country>
</cac:PostalAddress>

Affected Fields

BT-40 Seller country code

BT-55 Buyer country code

BT-69 Tax representative country code

BT-80 Deliver to country code

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