What it means
UBL lets the legal entity details of a party carry a code for its legal form. EN 16931 has no such code. The seller's additional legal information (BT-33, cbc:CompanyLegalForm) is free text, where you can write for example the legal form or the share capital. This rule fails whenever cbc:CompanyLegalFormCode is present in the seller's legal entity, even if it is empty.
Why it matters
This rule is a warning, so the invoice is still accepted. The recipient's software has no field for the code and ignores it, so the legal form does not reach the buyer in that form. It is worth fixing when the legal form is required on your invoices, for example by company law in your country.
How to fix it
In your invoicing software, look for the legal form or additional company information in the details of your own company and make sure it is exported as text. If you build the XML yourself, delete cbc:CompanyLegalFormCode from cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:PartyLegalEntity and put the text in cbc:CompanyLegalForm.
The rule as published
A UBL invoice should not include the AccountingSupplierParty Party PartyLegalEntity CompanyLegalFormCode 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 |
Check your file
Drop your e-invoice to see whether UBL-CR-180 still fails, and which other rules do.