What it means
Checks that the payee block (cac:PayeeParty) does not contain cac:Language, which UBL offers to say which language a party uses. EN 16931 has no business term for it. For the payee (BG-10), the party that receives the payment when that is not the seller, only the name (BT-59), the identifier (BT-60) and the legal registration identifier (BT-61) are allowed.
Why it matters
This is a warning, so the file is still accepted. The recipient's software has no field for the payee's language and normally ignores it. It is worth removing when you want a clean report, or when a recipient asks for a file without warnings.
How to fix it
Check the payee details and the document language settings in your invoicing software. A language setting on the invoice itself is fine, but it should not be written inside the payee. If you build the XML yourself, delete cac:Language from cac:PayeeParty.
The rule as published
A UBL invoice should not include the PayeeParty Language 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-271 still fails, and which other rules do.
Related rules
- UBL-CR-272 The payee should not include a postal address
- UBL-CR-273 The payee should not include a physical location
- UBL-CR-274 The payee should not include tax registration details
- UBL-CR-275 The payee name must not sit in the legal entity block
- UBL-CR-276 The payee should not include a registration date
- UBL-CR-277 The payee should not include a registration expiry date