Reference
Markdown exportBR-DE-27 Seller contact telephone number must have valid syntax and length
Under rule BR-DE-27 of the German XRechnung profile, the seller contact telephone number (BT-42) must satisfy strict syntactic and plausibility checks. It must contain at least three numeric digits (0-9) and must not consist solely of placeholder characters (such as "-", "N/A", "000", or whitespace). In German public administration, automated invoice validation systems check phone number plausibility to prevent suppliers from bypassing mandatory contact requirements with fake or uncallable phone strings.
Problem Description
Under rule BR-DE-27 of the German XRechnung profile, the seller contact telephone number (BT-42) must satisfy strict syntactic and plausibility checks. It must contain at least three numeric digits (0-9) and must not consist solely of placeholder characters (such as "-", "N/A", "000", or whitespace). In German public administration, automated invoice validation systems check phone number plausibility to prevent suppliers from bypassing mandatory contact requirements with fake or uncallable phone strings.
ERROR
XRechnung 3.0
Context and Significance
Supplying invalid or dummy telephone strings causes immediate Schematron error BR-DE-27, preventing the invoice from passing public sector gateway validation.
Solution
In your company master data, update the seller telephone number with a complete business phone number including country prefix or regional area code (e.g. "+49 30 1234567" or "089 98765432"). In UBL 2.1 syntax, populate <cbc:Telephone> inside <cac:AccountingSupplierParty><cac:Party><cac:Contact>. In UN/CEFACT CII syntax, populate <ram:CompleteNumber> within <ram:TelephoneUniversalCommunication> under <ram:SellerTradeParty><ram:DefinedTradeContact>. Do not use dummy values like "--" or "none".
Quick actions
Valid Examples
Use these points as the practical checks for this section.
- BT-42 = "+49 30 1234567" (Standard international format with area code)
- BT-42 = "089 9876543-0" (Domestic German format with direct extension)
Invalid Examples
Use these points as the practical checks for this section.
- BT-42 = "--" (Punctuation placeholder without numeric digits)
- BT-42 = "N/A" (Alphabetic placeholder string failing the minimum 3-digit requirement)
Code Examples
<cac:Contact>
<cbc:Name>Rechnungsstelle</cbc:Name>
<cbc:Telephone>+49 30 1234567</cbc:Telephone>
<cbc:ElectronicMail>kontakt@lieferant.de</cbc:ElectronicMail>
</cac:Contact><cac:Contact>
<cbc:Name>Rechnungsstelle</cbc:Name>
<!-- Telephone number consists only of dashes and fails the 3-digit requirement -->
<cbc:Telephone>--</cbc:Telephone>
<cbc:ElectronicMail>kontakt@lieferant.de</cbc:ElectronicMail>
</cac:Contact>