E-invoice / Rules / BR-CO-20

E-invoice rule EN 16931 schematron

BR-CO-20: The invoicing period is present but empty

The invoicing period is present but empty. Add cbc:StartDate or cbc:EndDate.

Original wording of the rule

[BR-CO-20]-If Invoice line period (BG-26) is used, the Invoice line period start date (BT-134) or the Invoice line period end date (BT-135) shall be filled, or both.

Source of the quotation: EN 16931 schematron (ConnectingEurope/eInvoicing-EN16931, licence EUPL 1.2)

How to fix it

1. Open the XML file and find the element cac:InvoicePeriod/cbc:StartDate.
2. Add or correct the element the way the wording of the rule above asks for.
3. Save the file and check it again with our checker. It runs in your browser, the file is never uploaded.

A correct UBL 2.1 snippet

<cac:InvoicePeriod
    xmlns:cac="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonAggregateComponents-2"
    xmlns:cbc="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonBasicComponents-2">
  <cbc:StartDate>2026-08-01</cbc:StartDate>
</cac:InvoicePeriod>

The snippet is only the part of the document the rule is about. Put it in the right place inside your invoice; the namespaces are written here only so that the snippet reads on its own.

When it is reported

Profile: EN 16931, Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, XRechnung 3.x

How we rate it: error

UBL elements: cbc:StartDate, cbc:EndDate

Where we point in the file: /Invoice/cac:InvoiceLine[1]/cac:InvoicePeriod

Related rules

• BR-CO-18 The VAT breakdown (BG-23) is missing
• BR-CO-19 The invoicing period is present but empty
• BR-CO-21 The allowance on document level needs a reason
• BR-CO-22 The charge on document level needs a reason
• BR-CO-23 The allowance on line level needs a reason

Our check is not complete: we do not check the XSD schema and we do not implement every rule, and a file that passes says nothing about whether the buyer or the Peppol network will accept it. Licences for the quoted wordings are listed in our sources.