What it means
The rule looks at the item on every invoice line (or credit note line) in a UBL file. It warns when the item contains a cac:CatalogueItemIdentification block, the identifier the item has in a catalogue. EN 16931 offers three item identifiers instead: the seller's (BT-155), the buyer's (BT-156) and the standard one (BT-157), such as a GTIN.
Why it matters
EN 16931 does not use catalogue item identification blocks on invoice or credit note lines.
How to fix it
Find the field in your invoicing software that holds the catalogue number. Map it to the seller's item identifier if it is your article number, or to the buyer's item identifier if the number is theirs, or switch the export off. If you build the XML yourself, use cac:SellersItemIdentification/cbc:ID for your article number or cac:BuyersItemIdentification/cbc:ID for the buyer's article number, under cac:Item. Then delete cac:CatalogueItemIdentification.
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 Item CatalogueItemIdentification 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-587 still fails, and which other rules do.
Related rules
- UBL-CR-588 Additional item identifiers are not used on invoice lines
- UBL-CR-589 Catalogue document references are not used on invoice lines
- UBL-CR-590 Item specification references should not be inside the item
- UBL-CR-591 The item's country of origin should not include a name
- UBL-CR-592 Commodity nature codes are not used on invoice lines
- UBL-CR-593 Commodity cargo type codes are not used on invoice lines