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CII-SR-465 Seller contact: person name or department name, not both

In CII, the seller contact point (BT-41) is either ram:PersonName or ram:DepartmentName in ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:DefinedTradeContact. CII-SR-465 ("Only one BT-41 element is allowed on an invoice") fails when both elements are present. The CEN validation artefacts flag the rule as a warning; the KoSIT configuration for XRechnung 3.0.2 of 2026-08-31 raises it to an error for XRechnung in CII syntax.

Problem Description

ERROR

EN 16931 syntax rule for CII (CEN, CII-SR)

Interactive pipeline

Click a stage to see what it checks, or type a rule ID to light up the stage that reports it.

Try:

CII-SR-465 EN 16931 syntax rule for UBL or CII

Reported in stage 2: EN 16931 rules.

Level error: the report recommends rejecting the invoice.

Stage 2 · What it checks

  • The core business terms are present (BR-01 to BR-65).
  • Totals add up and related fields agree (BR-CO); codes and decimals are valid (BR-CL, BR-DEC).
  • Each VAT category is consistent: S, Z, E, AE, K, G, O, L, M (BR-S, BR-Z, BR-AE, BR-IC …).

Example codes

Typical fix

Recalculate totals and VAT from the line data, and correct the VAT category in the source data.

A validator checks an e-invoice in stages. First the file must be well-formed XML that matches the UBL or CII schema (XSD). Then the EN 16931 business rules run: BR core rules, BR-CO calculations, BR-CL code lists, BR-DEC decimals and VAT-category rules such as BR-S. Next come the national or network rules that BT-24 selects: BR-DE for XRechnung, PEPPOL-EN16931 for Peppol BIS Billing. The report lists every failed rule: one error means reject, warnings alone still mean accept. CII-SR-465: EN 16931 syntax rule for UBL or CII, reported in the stage “EN 16931 rules”. Rule sets: KoSIT validator 1.6.3 with the XRechnung configuration of 31 Aug 2026 (EN 16931 artefacts 1.3.16), Peppol BIS Billing 3.0.21.

Context and Significance

Files that passed an earlier KoSIT configuration can fail since the release of 2026-08-31, because the rule was only a warning before. ERP exports often write the contact person and the department side by side, as both appear on the PDF.

Solution

Keep one value for BT-41. Use ram:PersonName for a named person, or ram:DepartmentName when there is only a department, and remove the other element. UBL is not affected: there BT-41 is the single element cac:Contact/cbc:Name.

Quick actions

Validate XMLConvert invoice

Valid Examples

  • ram:PersonName = "Anna Schmidt"
  • ram:DepartmentName = "Accounts receivable" (no PersonName)

Invalid Examples

  • ram:PersonName = "Anna Schmidt" and ram:DepartmentName = "Accounts receivable"

Code Examples

Valid XML
<ram:DefinedTradeContact>
  <ram:PersonName>Anna Schmidt</ram:PersonName>
  <ram:TelephoneUniversalCommunication>
    <ram:CompleteNumber>+49 30 1234567</ram:CompleteNumber>
  </ram:TelephoneUniversalCommunication>
  <ram:EmailURIUniversalCommunication>
    <ram:URIID>billing@example.com</ram:URIID>
  </ram:EmailURIUniversalCommunication>
</ram:DefinedTradeContact>
Invalid XML
<ram:DefinedTradeContact>
  <ram:PersonName>Anna Schmidt</ram:PersonName>
  <ram:DepartmentName>Accounts receivable</ram:DepartmentName>
</ram:DefinedTradeContact>

Affected Fields

BT-41 Seller contact point
BG-6 Seller contact

Validation Tools

Official KoSIT Validator

Run the official KoSIT validator with the XRechnung configuration to check EN 16931 and XRechnung rules.

Convert PDF to XRechnung

Find validation errors during conversion and review each correction.