E-FACTURATIE ONTCIJFERD

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Peppol error codes

BR-11: buyer country code is missing

By Philippe Kimpe and Jelle Heyvaert, authors of E-facturatie Ontcijferd · Updated on 11 October 2026

Error code BR-11 means: the buyer’s address has no country code.

Rule set: EN 16931 · Severity: error (fatal): an Access Point rejects the invoice · Checked against the official rules of May 2026

What does BR-11 mean?

The validator shows this message (as worded in the official rules):

[BR-11]-The Buyer postal address shall contain a Buyer country code (BT-55).

The buyer’s postal address must contain a country code (BT-55, cac:PostalAddress/cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode of the customer). As for the seller, that is a two-letter code from ISO 3166-1, such as BE.

Common causes

  • No country is filled in on the customer record.
  • The export omits the country for domestic customers.
  • The customer was migrated from an old system without a country field.

How to fix it as the sender

  1. Fill in the country for every customer, also for domestic customers.
  2. Have the export always send cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode.
  3. When importing customers, check that the country was taken over correctly.

Received an invoice with this error?

An invoice with this error is not compliant. Ask the supplier for a corrected invoice and do not change the XML yourself.

Example in the XML

❌ Wrong

<cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
  <cac:Party>
    ...
    <cac:PostalAddress>
      <cbc:StreetName>Stationsplein 5</cbc:StreetName>
      <cbc:CityName>Antwerpen</cbc:CityName>
      <cbc:PostalZone>2000</cbc:PostalZone>
    </cac:PostalAddress>

✅ Correct

<cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
  <cac:Party>
    ...
    <cac:PostalAddress>
      <cbc:StreetName>Stationsplein 5</cbc:StreetName>
      <cbc:CityName>Antwerpen</cbc:CityName>
      <cbc:PostalZone>2000</cbc:PostalZone>
      <cac:Country><cbc:IdentificationCode>BE</cbc:IdentificationCode></cac:Country>
    </cac:PostalAddress>

Both snippets come from a complete test invoice that we checked with our validator: the wrong version gives exactly this message, the correct version no errors at all.

Try this error in the validator →

Good to know

If the seller’s country code is missing, you get BR-09. Both errors often occur together.

Check your invoice

Drop your XML into the free validator. You see right away whether this error still occurs, with a link to the explanation for every message.

Go to the Peppol validator →

Official rule

The full rule with its technical test (Schematron) is in the official Peppol documentation:

Related error codes

  • BR-09: The seller’s address has no country code.
  • BR-CL-14: A country code on the invoice is not a valid two-letter code.

Frequently asked questions about BR-11

Which code do I use for a customer in the Netherlands?

NL. Always use the two-letter code from ISO 3166-1.

Where is the buyer’s address in the XML?

In cac:AccountingCustomerParty/cac:Party/cac:PostalAddress. The country code is in cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode inside it.

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