Fix BR-DE-2: SELLER CONTACT (BG-6) missing

What does BR-DE-2 mean?

The group "SELLER CONTACT" (BG-6) must be provided. This is a national KoSIT rule (XRechnung) that goes beyond EN 16931 and is mandatory for German e-invoices.

Common causes of BR-DE-2

• The element required by the German KoSIT rule is missing from the XML.
• The value appears only in the PDF, not in the structured data set.
• The entry was left empty.

How to fix BR-DE-2

1. Find the faulty spot in the XML. Open the XML of the invoice and go to field BG-6 along this XPath://ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:DefinedTradeContact
2. Apply the fix. Add the group SELLER CONTACT (BG-6) in 'ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:DefinedTradeContact' (contact person, telephone, email).
3. Validate again. Save the file and validate it again to check that BR-DE-2 is no longer reported.

Before / after: the XML example

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

<ram:SellerTradeParty>
  <ram:Name>Musterfirma GmbH</ram:Name>
  <!-- ram:DefinedTradeContact (BG-6) fehlt -->
</ram:SellerTradeParty>

<ram:SellerTradeParty>
  <ram:Name>Musterfirma GmbH</ram:Name>
  <ram:DefinedTradeContact>
    <ram:PersonName>Max Muster</ram:PersonName>
    <ram:TelephoneUniversalCommunication>
      <ram:CompleteNumber>+49 30 1234567</ram:CompleteNumber>
    </ram:TelephoneUniversalCommunication>
    <ram:EmailURIUniversalCommunication>
      <ram:URIID>info@musterfirma.de</ram:URIID>
    </ram:EmailURIUniversalCommunication>
  </ram:DefinedTradeContact>
</ram:SellerTradeParty>

Frequent questions about BR-DE-2

Related error codes

Check BR-DE-2 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.