DE-R-002:Seller contact information missing
Fix: This requires user input to resolve. Provide the correct value for `cac:Contact` (BG-6). Provide the required value in the free validator.
German invoices must include contact information for the seller — a contact person name, telephone number, and email address. This is required by German e-invoicing regulations.
Engine Classification
Business data required · Explicit input workflow · No assumptions made
Required input: Contact Person Name, Contact Telephone, Contact Email
What is DE-R-002?
DE-R-002 is a fatal validation rule defined in the EN 16931 specification (DEU national rules). It validates the Name element under Party > Contact in the UBL invoice XML.
When this rule fires, the invoice is rejected by Peppol access points and never reaches the buyer.
Target path: /Invoice/cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:Contact/cbc:Name
Why This Error Matters
Invoice will be rejected by German XRechnung validators. Germany has additional mandatory fields beyond EN16931 baseline, including seller contact details, complete addresses, and buyer reference (Leitweg-ID).
DE-R-002 is a hard failure — the invoice must be corrected and re-sent before it can reach the recipient.
German XRechnung portals and Peppol access points will reject invoices from German sellers without contact information. KoSIT validation will fail on this rule.
Validator Behavior
- ·Causes invoice rejection
- ·Rejected by XRechnung endpoints
- ·Error returned: DE-R-002
- ·Specification: EN 16931
How to Fix It
Before / After
<cac:Party> <cac:Contact><!-- invalid or missing value --></cac:Contact> </cac:Party>
<cac:Party> <cac:Contact>correct-value</cac:Contact> </cac:Party>
Technical Reference
/Invoice/cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:Contact/cbc:NameCommon Causes
- ·German invoice missing seller contact group
- ·BG-6 SELLER CONTACT not provided
- ·cac:Contact under seller party required
- ·Seller contact details mandatory for XRechnung
- ·German public sector requires contactable seller
Seeing this in production? The API handles DE-R-002 automatically. See the fix response →
Frequently Asked Questions
German invoices must include contact information for the seller — a contact person name, telephone number, and email address. This is required by German e-invoicing regulations.
This requires user input to resolve. Provide the correct value for `cac:Contact` (BG-6). You can also use Invoice Navigator's compliance engine to correct this automatically in your pipeline.
Yes, DE-R-002 is a critical error that will cause invoice rejection. It must be fixed before submission.
Many instances of DE-R-002 can be automatically corrected using Invoice Navigator's compliance engine. The fix is applied in your pipeline with full audit evidence.
Related Content
Last updated: 3 March 2026
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