BR-CO-26

So the buyer can identify the supplier automatically, at least one seller identifier must be present: a seller identifier (BT-29), the legal registration identifier (BT-30), or the VAT identifier (BT-31).

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

Official rule text

In order for the buyer to automatically identify a supplier, the Seller identifier (BT-29), the Seller legal registration identifier (BT-30) and/or the Seller VAT identifier (BT-31) shall be present.

Why does BR-CO-26 happen?

The seller is sent as a name and an address, because that is enough for a human. It is not enough for an automatic match against the recipient's supplier master data — spellings change, identifiers do not.

How do you fix BR-CO-26?

Send at least one of them: cac:PartyIdentification/cbc:ID (BT-29), cac:PartyLegalEntity/cbc:CompanyID (BT-30) or cac:PartyTaxScheme/cbc:CompanyID (BT-31) in UBL; ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:ID, ram:SpecifiedLegalOrganization/ram:ID or ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration/ram:ID in CII.

In the XML

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

Fails

<cac:Party>
  <cac:PartyName>
    <cbc:Name>Muster GmbH</cbc:Name>
  </cac:PartyName>
  <cac:PostalAddress>
    <cbc:CityName>Berlin</cbc:CityName>
  </cac:PostalAddress>
</cac:Party>

Fixed

<cac:Party>
  <cac:PartyName>
    <cbc:Name>Muster GmbH</cbc:Name>
  </cac:PartyName>
  <cac:PostalAddress>
    <cbc:CityName>Berlin</cbc:CityName>
  </cac:PostalAddress>
  <cac:PartyTaxScheme>
    <cbc:CompanyID>DE811234567</cbc:CompanyID>
    <cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme>
  </cac:PartyTaxScheme>
</cac:Party>

NormAPI provides technical validation, not tax or legal advice.