What it means
The check looks at the payment instructions (BG-16) of the invoice or credit note and warns when the card account (cac:PaymentMeans/cac:CardAccount) contains cbc:CardChipCode, a code describing the chip on the card. In EN 16931 the payment card information (BG-18) only holds part of the card number (BT-87) and the card holder name (BT-88).
Why it matters
EN 16931 does not use a card chip code in payment card information (BG-18), so this element produces a warning.
How to fix it
Delete cbc:CardChipCode from cac:PaymentMeans/cac:CardAccount. Leave any partial card number (BT-87) and card holder name (BT-88) in place. If your invoicing software adds the chip code, adjust the XML export to omit it, then export again and recheck the 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 PaymentMeans CardAccount CardChipCode 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-421 still fails, and which other rules do.
Related rules
- UBL-CR-422 A card chip application ID is not used in EN 16931
- UBL-CR-424 An alias name for the payee bank account is not used
- UBL-CR-425 The type of the payee bank account is not used
- UBL-CR-426 The format code of the payee bank account is not used
- UBL-CR-427 The currency of the payee bank account is not used
- UBL-CR-428 A note on the payee bank account is not used