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Warning

UBL-CR-108: Leave the issuer out of the contract reference

In short

Warning: worth checking.

UBL-CR-108 means the contract reference in your UBL invoice or credit note names an issuer party (cac:IssuerParty), which EN 16931 does not use. Delete that element from cac:ContractDocumentReference and check the file again.

On this page

What it means

A UBL invoice or credit note refers to a contract through cac:ContractDocumentReference. EN 16931 only reads the contract number from it (BT-12, in cbc:ID). This rule checks that the block does not also contain an issuer (cac:IssuerParty), the party that issued the contract document.

Why it matters

EN 16931 recommends leaving issuer details out of the contract reference.

How to fix it

Ask the supplier of your invoicing software to stop exporting cac:IssuerParty in the contract reference. If you build the XML yourself, delete cac:IssuerParty from cac:ContractDocumentReference and leave cbc:ID as it is. Recheck the corrected file.

Once the file is corrected, check it again for free: Validate an invoice against EN 16931

Or fix the invoice in a form and download the corrected file, for 1 credit: Fix a rejected e-invoice

The rule as published

A UBL invoice should not include the ContractDocumentReference IssuerParty

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-108 still fails, and which other rules do.

Updated 6 November 2026