Home › Error code lexicon › PEPPOL-EN16931-R003
PEPPOL-EN16931-R003 Field BT-10 PEPPOL BIS rules (Peppol)

Fix PEPPOL-EN16931-R003: Buyer reference or order reference is missing

Either a Buyer reference (BT-10, for example a Leitweg-ID) or a Purchase order reference (BT-13) shall be provided so the recipient can assign the invoice.

PEPPOL-EN16931-R003 in your own invoice? Upload the file and find every error in seconds.
Check invoice Get an API key

What does PEPPOL-EN16931-R003 mean?

Peppol requires at least one assignment reference so the invoice recipient can route the invoice to the right case automatically. In Germany this matches the duty to give the Leitweg-ID on B2G invoices (see BR-DE-15).

Common causes of PEPPOL-EN16931-R003

How to fix PEPPOL-EN16931-R003

  1. Find the faulty spot in the XML. Open the XML of the invoice and go to field BT-10 along this XPath://rsm:CrossIndustryInvoice/rsm:SupplyChainTradeTransaction/ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement/ram:BuyerReference
  2. Apply the fix. Give the buyer reference (BT-10) in 'ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement/ram:BuyerReference' - in Germany this is the Leitweg-ID for public authorities. A purchase order reference (BT-13) in 'ram:BuyerOrderReferencedDocument/ram:IssuerAssignedID' is enough as an alternative.
  3. Validate again. Save the file and validate it again to check that PEPPOL-EN16931-R003 is no longer reported.
Concrete fix

Give the buyer reference (BT-10) in 'ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement/ram:BuyerReference' - in Germany this is the Leitweg-ID for public authorities. A purchase order reference (BT-13) in 'ram:BuyerOrderReferencedDocument/ram:IssuerAssignedID' is enough as an alternative.

XPath//rsm:CrossIndustryInvoice/rsm:SupplyChainTradeTransaction/ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement/ram:BuyerReference

Frequent questions about PEPPOL-EN16931-R003

Does the order number replace the Leitweg-ID?
For the plain Peppol rule R003, yes - BT-10 OR BT-13 is enough. For German B2G invoices, BR-DE-15 additionally makes the buyer reference (Leitweg-ID) in BT-10 mandatory.

Related error codes

PEPPOL-EN16931-R001 Business process (BT-23) is missing PEPPOL-EN16931-R002 More than one note at document level PEPPOL-EN16931-R004 Specification identifier does not match Peppol PEPPOL-EN16931-R005 Accounting currency equals invoice currency PEPPOL-EN16931-R008 Empty XML elements in the document PEPPOL-EN16931-R010 Buyer electronic address (BT-49) is missing

Check PEPPOL-EN16931-R003 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.

Validate online now Back to the lexicon

Find every error automatically instead of searching by hand

Upload your ZUGFeRD, Factur-X or XRechnung file – you get every violation back with rule ID, field, fix and XPath.

Validate online for free
Check invoice