BR-DE – XRechnung

BR-DE-7: seller contact e-mail address (BT-43) missing

ErrorXRechnung business rule (KoSIT)

The rule's own wording

[BR-DE-7] Das Element "Seller contact email address" (BT-43) muss übermittelt werden.

Source: KoSIT XRechnung, version 3.0.2 (Schematron 2.6.0)

Meaning of the rule

The invoice issuer's contact contains no e-mail address. XRechnung prescribes it so that the recipient can send questions and rejections in writing to someone who knows the invoice. Without it the invoice counts as incomplete and is not accepted. The address does not have to be personal; a mailbox of the accounting department that is read regularly is the usual solution.

What usually goes wrong

No e-mail address is maintained for the contact person in the master data.
The software writes the e-mail address into the company's field, not into the contact.
A test contact without an address was carried over into production.

The fix in the XML

Enter a valid e-mail address for the seller contact: in UBL cbc:ElectronicMail under cac:Contact, in CII ram:URIID in the EmailURIUniversalCommunication of the DefinedTradeContact. Use an address that questions about the invoice actually reach.

Before – invalid

<cac:Contact>
  <cbc:Name>Accounting</cbc:Name>
  <cbc:Telephone>+49 30 1234560</cbc:Telephone>
</cac:Contact>

After – corrected

<cac:Contact>
  <cbc:Name>Accounting</cbc:Name>
  <cbc:Telephone>+49 30 1234560</cbc:Telephone>
  <cbc:ElectronicMail>[email protected]</cbc:ElectronicMail>
</cac:Contact>

Questions and answers

Does BR-DE-7 also check that the e-mail address looks valid?

No, only that the field is filled. An address without @ passes this rule but will be queried by the recipient; use a real address.

May the e-mail address be the same as the one in the letterhead?

Yes. What matters is that it stands in the contact of the XML and is read for questions about the invoice.

EN 16931 fields

BT-43
BG-6

Check your invoice

The XRechnung validator reports this rule with the line number and location – right in your browser, without upload.

Open the XRechnung validator

The rule in detail

UBL · Context (XPath): /ubl:Invoice/cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:Contact | /cn:CreditNote/cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:Contact
UBL · Schematron test: cbc:ElectronicMail[boolean(normalize-space(.))]
CII · Context (XPath): /rsm:CrossIndustryInvoice/rsm:SupplyChainTradeTransaction/ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement/ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:DefinedTradeContact
CII · Schematron test: ram:EmailURIUniversalCommunication/ram:URIID[boolean(normalize-space(.))]

Explanation written on 14 September 2026

Search