errorcountryESPfacturae

ES-R-004:Digital signature required

Fix: Sign invoice with valid XAdES-EPES or XAdES-T signature.

Spanish FacturaE invoices require XAdES digital signature.

Severity
Fatal
Rule set
facturae
Country
ESP
Fix type
BLOCKED

Engine Classification

Financial or legal field · Modification blocked by policy

Reason: Spanish FacturaE invoices require XAdES digital signature with a valid Spanish digital certificate from an accredited Certification Authority. This requires: 1) Obtaining a valid certificate, 2) Using invoicing software that supports XAdES signing.

What is ES-R-004?

ES-R-004 is a fatal validation rule defined in the facturae specification (ESP national rules). It validates the ds:Signature element under fe:Facturae in the UBL invoice XML.

When this rule fires, the invoice is rejected by Peppol access points and never reaches the buyer.

Target path: XPath: /fe:Facturae/ds:Signature

This error requires manual correction — financial fields are protected by policy.

Why This Error Matters

Spanish law requires digital signature on e-invoices.

ES-R-004 is a hard failure — the invoice must be corrected and re-sent before it can reach the recipient.

Validator Behavior

  • ·Causes invoice rejection
  • ·Error returned: ES-R-004
  • ·Specification: facturae

How to Fix It

1.

Get certificate

Spanish recognized certificate

2.

Apply XAdES

Sign with XAdES-EPES minimum

XML Example

Generic example based on the rule's target XPath. Your actual XML structure may differ.

Before
<!-- Triggers validation error -->
<ds:Signature></ds:Signature>
After
<!-- Corrected -->
<ds:Signature>VALID_VALUE</ds:Signature>

Technical Reference

XPathXPath: /fe:Facturae/ds:Signature
Specfacturae

Common Causes

  • ·Missing signature
  • ·Invalid certificate
  • ·Wrong signature type

Seeing this in production? The API handles ES-R-004 automatically. See the fix response →

Frequently Asked Questions

Spanish FacturaE invoices require XAdES digital signature.

Sign invoice with valid XAdES-EPES or XAdES-T signature. This error involves a protected field — Invoice Navigator flags it in your pipeline so your team can correct it at the source.

Yes, ES-R-004 is a critical error that will cause invoice rejection. It must be fixed before submission.

Related Errors

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Last updated: 3 March 2026

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