Peppol BIS 3.0.21 (May 2026) · UBL · Severity: ERROR
Document must not contain empty XML elements
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0.21 forbids empty leaf elements (such as <cbc:BuyerReference/> or <cbc:EndpointID></cbc:EndpointID>).
- Rule ID & Severity
PEPPOL-EN16931-R008· ERROR- Standard & Scope
- Peppol BIS 3.0.21 (May 2026) · UBL
- XPath Condition
empty(//*[not(node()) and not(self::cac:*)])- Target XML Path
//*[not(node())]
Find the source field
//*[not(node())]
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
- An ERP template serialized optional empty fields as self-closing or empty tags.
- A null database column was written as an empty XML element.
Invalid and corrected fragments
<cbc:Note></cbc:Note>
<!-- Omit optional empty elements or populate with real source text -->
Omit optional elements when they have no value, or populate mandatory elements from the source invoice record.
Open PEPPOL-EN16931-R008 in peppol-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.
Official PEPPOL-EN16931-R008 source ↗
Explanation record: 2026-10-14 · Local WebAssembly / SaxonJS validation. No invoice-derived report is published as a search page.