EN16931 1.3.16 · UBL / CII · Severity: ERROR
An Invoice shall have at least one Invoice line (BG-25)
An EN16931 invoice or credit note must contain at least one line item (BG-25).
- Rule ID & Severity
BR-16· ERROR- Standard & Scope
- EN16931 1.3.16 · UBL / CII
- XPath Condition
exists(cac:InvoiceLine | cac:CreditNoteLine)- Target XML Path
cac:InvoiceLine
Find the source field
cac:InvoiceLine
Match namespace URI and element name, not a particular prefix spelling. The validator reports the full expanded-name source path when the published rule supplies a location.
Common causes
- Header-only summary invoice was exported without line items.
Invalid and corrected fragments
<!-- No cac:InvoiceLine elements present -->
<cac:InvoiceLine><cbc:ID>1</cbc:ID><cbc:InvoicedQuantity unitCode="C62">1</cbc:InvoicedQuantity><cbc:LineExtensionAmount currencyID="EUR">100.00</cbc:LineExtensionAmount>...</cac:InvoiceLine>
Export at least one complete InvoiceLine (or CreditNoteLine) element with ID, quantity, net amount, item name, tax category, and unit price.
Open BR-16 in en16931-validator →
Verify the whole document
These are fragments, not complete invoices. The exact rule is exercised by synthetic mutation tests against the stated package. Correcting one field does not prove conformance; run the full selected validator again. Published messages and severity remain authoritative.
Explanation record: 2026-10-14 · Local WebAssembly / SaxonJS validation. No invoice-derived report is published as a search page.