What it means
The rule warns when the payment terms block (cac:PaymentTerms) of the invoice or credit note holds a cac:ValidityPeriod. In UBL this is the period during which those payment terms are valid. EN 16931 provides payment terms text (BT-20), but no validity period element within the payment terms. This is a warning.
Why it matters
EN 16931 does not use cac:ValidityPeriod in cac:PaymentTerms.
How to fix it
Remove the validity period. If a limit matters, such as a discount that ends on a certain date, write it in the payment terms text (BT-20). In the XML, delete cac:ValidityPeriod from cac:PaymentTerms. In your invoicing software, choose the output format the recipient asked for (for example Peppol BIS or XRechnung) and export again. Check the corrected file again.
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 PaymentTerms ValidityPeriod 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-469 still fails, and which other rules do.
Related rules
- UBL-CR-470 Show prepayments as a paid amount, not as separate payments
- UBL-CR-471 Do not give an invoice-level discount or charge an identifier
- UBL-CR-472 Do not flag an invoice-level discount or charge as prepaid
- UBL-CR-473 Do not give invoice-level discounts and charges a sequence number
- UBL-CR-474 Do not add an accounting cost code to an invoice-level discount or charge
- UBL-CR-475 Do not add an accounting cost to an invoice-level discount or charge