BR-CO-22

Every document-level charge (BG-21) must carry a reason — in plain text (BT-104), as a code (BT-105), or both.

Severity: Error
Applies to: CII, UBL
Rule set: v2026-01-31

Official rule text

Each Document level charge (BG-21) shall contain a Document level charge reason (BT-104) or a Document level charge reason code (BT-105), or both.

Why does BR-CO-22 happen?

Charges often appear late in the process, out of a shipping provider for instance, and are passed through as a bare amount. The recipient receives a surcharge nobody can attribute, and invoices with unexplained surcharges sit unpaid.

How do you fix BR-CO-22?

Add cbc:AllowanceChargeReason or cbc:AllowanceChargeReasonCode to the cac:AllowanceCharge whose cbc:ChargeIndicator is true in UBL, or ram:Reason or ram:ReasonCode to the ram:SpecifiedTradeAllowanceCharge in CII.

In the XML

A UBL fragment. The CII path is named above — same change, different element names.

Fails

<cac:AllowanceCharge>
  <cbc:ChargeIndicator>true</cbc:ChargeIndicator>
  <cbc:Amount currencyID="EUR">20.00</cbc:Amount>
</cac:AllowanceCharge>

Fixed

<cac:AllowanceCharge>
  <cbc:ChargeIndicator>true</cbc:ChargeIndicator>
  <cbc:AllowanceChargeReason>Frachtkosten</cbc:AllowanceChargeReason>
  <cbc:Amount currencyID="EUR">20.00</cbc:Amount>
</cac:AllowanceCharge>

NormAPI provides technical validation, not tax or legal advice.