UBL-DT-18:Name attribute should not be present
Fix: Your invoice contains the name attribute on an element. This attribute is not allowed in EN16931 and must be removed.
Your invoice contains the name attribute on an element. This attribute is not allowed in EN16931 and must be removed.
Engine Classification
Financial or legal field · Modification blocked by policy
What is UBL-DT-18?
UBL-DT-18 is a warning validation rule defined in the EN16931 specification.
The invoice may pass transmission, but this non-compliance can cause problems during tax audits or buyer-side processing.
Why This Error Matters
Invoice will be rejected by PEPPOL/EN16931 validators. These attributes are explicitly prohibited and provide no value in e-invoicing.
UBL-DT-18 is a soft failure that can cause issues at the receiving end — tax audits, ERP processing, or VAT reconciliation mismatches.
Validator Behavior
- ·Generates validation warning
- ·Fails EN 16931 business rule validation
- ·Error returned: UBL-DT-18
- ·Specification: EN16931
How to Fix It
Identify the issue in your invoice
Your invoice contains the name attribute on an element. This attribute is not allowed in EN16931 and must be removed.
Correct this in your invoicing software
Your invoice contains the name attribute on an element. This attribute is not allowed in EN16931 and must be removed.
Re-export and validate
Generate a new invoice export from your accounting system and re-validate to confirm UBL-DT-18 is resolved.
Technical Reference
Common Causes
- ·Source ERP exports full UBL 2.1 attributes instead of EN16931 restricted subset
- ·Generic UBL template includes optional datatype attributes not needed for e-invoicing
- ·XML generation library adds default attributes to all elements
- ·Conversion from another invoice format added non-standard attributes
- ·Manual XML editing introduced attributes not supported in EN16931
Seeing this in production? The API handles UBL-DT-18 automatically. See the fix response →
Frequently Asked Questions
Your invoice contains the name attribute on an element. This attribute is not allowed in EN16931 and must be removed.
Your invoice contains the name attribute on an element. This attribute is not allowed in EN16931 and must be removed. You can also use Invoice Navigator's compliance engine to correct this automatically in your pipeline.
UBL-DT-18 is a warning that may not always cause rejection, but indicates a compliance issue.
Many instances of UBL-DT-18 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: 14 April 2026
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