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Warning

UBL-CR-089: Leave the description out of the tender or lot reference

In short

Warning: worth checking.

UBL-CR-089 means the tender or lot reference contains a document description, which EN 16931 does not use. Remove the text and keep only the reference number. The file is still accepted, so this is a warning.

On this page

What it means

An invoice or credit note can refer to a tender or lot (BT-17) through cac:OriginatorDocumentReference, and only the identifier (cbc:ID) is part of EN 16931. This rule checks that there is no cbc:DocumentDescription, a free text that would describe the referenced document.

Why it matters

This is a warning, so the invoice is not rejected. The recipient's software has no field for a description of the tender or lot, so the text is normally ignored. It is worth removing, because anything a person needs to read should go in the invoice note or the line descriptions instead.

How to fix it

Clear the description next to the tender or lot reference in your invoicing software and keep the reference number. If the text is important, put it in the invoice note, which the standard does support. If you build the XML yourself, remove cbc:DocumentDescription from cac:OriginatorDocumentReference.

The rule as published

A UBL invoice should not include the OriginatorDocumentReference DocumentDescription

Where this rule applies

Rule set Version
EN 16931 (UBL) 1.3.17
EN 16931 (UBL credit note) 1.3.17
XRechnung 3.0 (UBL) 3.0.2
XRechnung 3.0 (UBL credit note) 3.0.2
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 (invoice) 2026.5
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 (credit note) 2026.5
SI-UBL 2.0 / NLCIUS (invoice) 2.0.3.13
SI-UBL 2.0 / NLCIUS (credit note) 2.0.3.13
France CTC (UBL invoice) 1.4.0-04
France CTC (UBL credit note) 1.4.0-04
CIUS-RO UBL Invoice 1.0.9 1.0.9
CIUS-RO UBL Credit Note 1.0.9 1.0.9
Rule text from phive-rules 4.6.4.

Check your file

Drop your e-invoice to see whether UBL-CR-089 still fails, and which other rules do.

Updated 6 November 2026