Fix BR-CL-15: Further country code not ISO 3166-1

BR-CL-15 in your own invoice? Upload the file and find every error in seconds.

What does BR-CL-15 mean?

Same as BR-CL-14, but for the remaining addresses (buyer, deliver to address): a two-letter ISO 3166-1 code instead of a country name.

Common causes of BR-CL-15

Country name spelled out ('China') instead of the alpha-2 code
Alpha-3 code ('CHN') used instead of alpha-2 ('CN')
Mixed up with the address country rule BR-CL-14; this rule covers the item country of origin (BT-159)

How to fix BR-CL-15

Find the faulty spot in the XML. Open the XML of the invoice and go to field BT-159 along this XPath://ram:SpecifiedTradeProduct/ram:OriginTradeCountry/ram:ID
Apply the fix. Code the item country of origin (BT-159) with an alpha-2 code from ISO 3166-1, e.g. 'DE' (Germany), 'FR' (France), 'IT' (Italy), 'CN' (China), 'PL' (Poland). No spelled-out country name, no alpha-3 code.
Validate again. Save the file and validate it again to check that BR-CL-15 is no longer reported.

Concrete fix

Code the item country of origin (BT-159) with an alpha-2 code from ISO 3166-1, e.g. 'DE' (Germany), 'FR' (France), 'IT' (Italy), 'CN' (China), 'PL' (Poland). No spelled-out country name, no alpha-3 code.

XPath//ram:SpecifiedTradeProduct/ram:OriginTradeCountry/ram:ID

Before / after: the XML example

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

Wrong

<ram:SpecifiedTradeProduct>
  <ram:OriginTradeCountry>
    <ram:ID>China</ram:ID>
  </ram:OriginTradeCountry>
</ram:SpecifiedTradeProduct>

Correct

<ram:SpecifiedTradeProduct>
  <ram:OriginTradeCountry>
    <ram:ID>CN</ram:ID>
  </ram:OriginTradeCountry>
</ram:SpecifiedTradeProduct>

Frequent questions about BR-CL-15

What exactly does BR-CL-15 check?

The item country of origin (BT-159) under ram:SpecifiedTradeProduct/ram:OriginTradeCountry/ram:ID, not the buyer address.

Alpha-2 or alpha-3?

Always the two-letter alpha-2 code from ISO 3166-1, e.g. 'CN', not 'CHN'.

Related error codes

Check BR-CL-15 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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