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Warning

UBL-CR-539: A line document reference should not carry a language

In short

Warning: worth checking.

UBL-CR-539 means the document reference on an invoice or credit note line contains a language identifier (cbc:LanguageID), which EN 16931 does not use there. It is a warning; remove the language identifier from the reference and recheck the file.

On this page

What it means

The rule warns if cac:DocumentReference inside cac:InvoiceLine or cac:CreditNoteLine contains cbc:LanguageID, the language of the referenced document. It does not check the invoiced object identifier (BT-128) in cbc:ID or the document type code 130 in cbc:DocumentTypeCode.

Why it matters

The standard has no field for the language of a line reference. It is worth fixing when you want a clean file.

How to fix it

Remove the language identifier from the line's object or document reference. In the XML, delete cbc:LanguageID from cac:DocumentReference inside cac:InvoiceLine (cac:CreditNoteLine in a credit note). If your invoicing software adds this element, ask its maker to omit it from the UBL export. 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 InvoiceLine DocumentReference LanguageID

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-539 still fails, and which other rules do.

Updated 6 November 2026