CII-SR-271: Do not attach a note to the buyer's contact details

What it means

The buyer's contact details contain a SpecifiedNote element, a free-text note attached to the contact. EN 16931 has notes only at invoice level (the invoice note, BT-22), not on the buyer contact.

Why it matters

This is only a warning, so the file is still accepted. The buyer's software has no field for a note on the contact, so the text is probably dropped and what you wrote in it will not reach the person who reads the invoice.

How to fix it

Find where the note is typed in your invoicing software: it is on the customer's contact, not on the invoice itself. Move the wording to the invoice's notes or remarks field, which is exported as the invoice note, and clear it from the contact. This is worth doing whenever the text matters to the buyer, for example a delivery or approval instruction.

The rule as published

SpecifiedNote should not be present

Where this rule applies