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Warning

UBL-CR-255: Leave the note on the buyer's contact out

In short

Warning: worth checking.

UBL-CR-255 means the buyer's contact block includes a free-text note (Note), which EN 16931 does not use there. Remove the contact note. If the text belongs on the invoice, you can put it in an invoice-level note (BT-22).

On this page

What it means

This rule checks the buyer's contact block in a UBL invoice or credit note (cac:AccountingCustomerParty, cac:Party, cac:Contact). It must not contain cbc:Note, free text attached to the contact. The standard allows the contact point (BT-56), telephone number (BT-57) and email address (BT-58) there, and a general note on the invoice itself (BT-22).

Why it matters

The rule concerns notes inside the buyer's contact block, not invoice-level notes (BT-22). Moving the text is optional; the check requires the contact-level note element to be absent.

How to fix it

Configure your UBL export to omit notes from the buyer's contact block. If you edit or generate the XML, remove cbc:Note from cac:AccountingCustomerParty/cac:Party/cac:Contact. If the text belongs on the invoice or credit note, you can add it as cbc:Note directly under the document root. Recheck the file in Klarbon.

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 AccountingCustomerParty Party Contact Note

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-255 still fails, and which other rules do.

Updated 6 November 2026