What it means
In EN 16931 an address has its own fields for the street name (line 1) and the additional street name (line 2). A third line, such as BT-162 for the seller or BT-163 for the buyer, is held in cac:AddressLine. Every address in the invoice, such as the seller's, the buyer's or the delivery address, can therefore have no cac:AddressLine or exactly one.
Why it matters
EN 16931 allows at most one third address line for each address.
How to fix it
In your invoicing software, put the address on fewer lines: street and number on the first, extra detail such as a building or floor on the second, and a third only if you need it. If you build the XML yourself, use cbc:StreetName and cbc:AdditionalStreetName for the first two lines and a single cac:AddressLine/cbc:Line for the third, joining any further lines into it.
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
An address can only have one third line. 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-SR-51 still fails, and which other rules do.
Related rules
- UBL-SR-52 A line can have only one document reference
- UBL-SR-53 Tax scheme entries need both a scheme code and a number
- UBL-SR-54 An invoice can have only one payment card account
- UBL-SR-55 An invoice can have only one direct debit mandate
- UBL-SR-56 An invoice can have only one tender or lot reference
- UBL-SR-57 Each party can have only one legal registration block