CII-SR-308: Leave shipment (consignment) details out of the invoice

What it means

The delivery section of the invoice says who the goods or services go to and when. This rule checks that it has no RelatedSupplyChainConsignment, the block that describes a shipment as a whole, such as its identifier and transport data.

Why it matters

Tracking a shipment is the job of a despatch advice, which is a separate document. The invoice standard has no place for consignment data, so the buyer's software cannot map it. The invoice is not rejected, but the shipment data is likely to be ignored.

How to fix it

Check whether your invoicing or shipping software adds transport or parcel data to the e-invoice, and switch that off in its export settings. Use the EN 16931 profile rather than Extended if you can choose. If the buyer needs a shipment number, put it in the invoice note (BT-22), or in the despatch advice reference (BT-16) if there is a despatch advice.

The rule as published

RelatedSupplyChainConsignment should not be present

Where this rule applies