CII-SR-173: Invoice lines should not give a despatch advice reference

What it means

The delivery details of an invoice line (SpecifiedLineTradeDelivery in the XML) should not contain a DespatchAdviceReferencedDocument. That element refers to the despatch advice, the notice a seller sends when goods leave. EN 16931 has a despatch advice reference (BT-16), but only once for the whole invoice.

Why it matters

This is a warning, so the file is not rejected. Software that follows EN 16931 reads the despatch advice reference from the invoice level, so one on a line is usually ignored. It is worth fixing if the buyer matches invoices to despatch advices, or if your recipient wants a file without warnings.

How to fix it

If the same despatch advice applies to every line, fill in the despatch advice reference once for the whole invoice and clear it from the lines. The invoice level has room for one reference, so if different lines have different despatch advices, mention the others in a note on the invoice. If you build the XML yourself, delete the DespatchAdviceReferencedDocument block from the line's SpecifiedLineTradeDelivery.

The rule as published

DespatchAdviceReferencedDocument should not be present

Where this rule applies