Fix BR-CL-14: Seller country code not ISO 3166-1

BR-CL-14 in your own invoice? Upload the file and find every error in seconds.

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What does BR-CL-14 mean?

Country codes in the invoice must be two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes (e.g. DE, AT). Country names are not allowed.

Common causes of BR-CL-14

Country name written out ('Deutschland') instead of an alpha-2 code
Alpha-3 code ('DEU') used instead of alpha-2 ('DE')
Lower case or typo ('de') in CountryID

How to fix BR-CL-14

Find the faulty spot in the XML. Open the XML of the invoice and go to field BT-40 along this XPath://ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:PostalTradeAddress/ram:CountryID
Apply the fix. Code the country code with an alpha-2 code from ISO 3166-1, e.g. 'DE' (Germany), 'AT' (Austria), 'FR' (France), 'IT' (Italy), 'NL' (Netherlands). The rule checks every ram:CountryID, so seller (BT-40), buyer (BT-55) and place of delivery (BT-69). No written-out name, no alpha-3 code.
Validate again. Save the file and validate it again to check that BR-CL-14 is no longer reported.

Concrete fix

Code the country code with an alpha-2 code from ISO 3166-1, e.g. 'DE' (Germany), 'AT' (Austria), 'FR' (France), 'IT' (Italy), 'NL' (Netherlands). The rule checks every ram:CountryID, so seller (BT-40), buyer (BT-55) and place of delivery (BT-69). No written-out name, no alpha-3 code.

XPath//ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:PostalTradeAddress/ram:CountryID

Before / after: the XML example

This is the spot in question before and after the fix (Cross Industry Invoice, ZUGFeRD/Factur-X).

Wrong

<ram:SellerTradeParty>
  <ram:PostalTradeAddress>
    <ram:CountryID>Deutschland</ram:CountryID>
  </ram:PostalTradeAddress>
</ram:SellerTradeParty>

Correct

<ram:SellerTradeParty>
  <ram:PostalTradeAddress>
    <ram:CountryID>DE</ram:CountryID>
  </ram:PostalTradeAddress>
</ram:SellerTradeParty>

Frequent questions about BR-CL-14

Alpha-2 or alpha-3?

Always the two-letter alpha-2 code, e.g. 'DE', not 'DEU'.

Which addresses does the rule cover?

Every ram:CountryID in the document, so the seller (BT-40), buyer (BT-55) and deliver to address (BT-69).

Related error codes

Check BR-CL-14 automatically

Instead of digging through the XML by hand you can validate your ZUGFeRD or XRechnung file online – upload the PDF or the XML and you get every error with rule ID, affected field, fix and XPath, as a readable report or as JSON through the API.

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