BR-CO-26:The invoice is missing seller identification. At least one of: Seller...
The invoice is missing seller identification. At least one of: Seller Identifier (BT-29), Legal Registration ID (BT-30), or VAT Identifier (BT-31) must be present.
Engine Classification
Business data required · Explicit input workflow · No assumptions made
Required input: Seller Identifier (BT-29), Legal Registration ID (BT-30), VAT Identifier (BT-31)
What is BR-CO-26?
BR-CO-26 is a fatal validation rule defined in the EN 16931 specification. It checks whether the invoice is missing seller identification. at least one of: seller....
When this rule fires, the invoice is non-compliant and will be rejected by Peppol access points and national validation services. The sending system receives a rejection response and the invoice does not reach the buyer.
Why This Error Matters
Invoice rejected. Buyers need to identify the seller for payment routing and tax verification.
BR-CO-26 is a hard failure. Invoices that trigger this rule are rejected at the access point and never reach the recipient. In Peppol networks, this means your sending system receives an MLR (Message Level Response) with a rejection status. The invoice must be corrected and re-sent, adding delay to your payment cycle.
Validator Behavior
- ·Causes invoice rejection
- ·Error returned: BR-CO-26
- ·Specification: EN 16931
Before / After
<cac:PartyIdentification> <cbc:ID><!-- invalid or missing value --></cbc:ID> </cac:PartyIdentification>
<cac:PartyIdentification> <cbc:ID>correct-value</cbc:ID> </cac:PartyIdentification>
Technical Reference
Common Causes
- ·Seller has no identifier for buyer matching
- ·Missing BT-29 (Seller ID), BT-30 (Legal reg), and BT-31 (VAT)
- ·Seller party has no identification elements
- ·Company setup incomplete - no identifiers configured
- ·Export template missing seller identifier mappings
Seeing this in production? The API handles BR-CO-26 automatically. See the fix response →
See Also
Related Errors
Last updated: 27 February 2026
Handle BR-CO-26 Automatically in Your Pipeline
The compliance engine auto-remediates this error with controlled safety policies and evidence pack generation.