Fix BR-DE-21: Specification identifier (BT-24) does not match XRechnung

What does BR-DE-21 mean?

The element "Specification identifier" (BT-24) must match the identifier of the XRechnung standard in its syntax. This is a national KoSIT rule (XRechnung) that goes beyond EN 16931 and is mandatory for German e-invoices.

Common causes of BR-DE-21

• 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-21

1. Find the faulty spot in the XML. Open the XML of the invoice and go to field BT-24 along this XPath://ram:GuidelineSpecifiedDocumentContextParameter/ram:ID
2. Apply the fix. The Specification identifier (BT-24) must match the XRechnung identifier, for example 'urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:xoev-de:kosit:standard:xrechnung_3.0'.
3. Validate again. Save the file and validate it again to check that BR-DE-21 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:GuidelineSpecifiedDocumentContextParameter>
  <ram:ID>urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017</ram:ID>
</ram:GuidelineSpecifiedDocumentContextParameter>

<ram:GuidelineSpecifiedDocumentContextParameter>
  <ram:ID>urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:xoev-de:kosit:standard:xrechnung_3.0</ram:ID>
</ram:GuidelineSpecifiedDocumentContextParameter>

Frequent questions about BR-DE-21

Related error codes

Check BR-DE-21 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.