Rule reference

PEPPOL-EN16931-R061 The payment means code (BT-81) is "59", which is a direct debit — you are telling the buyer that you will take the money rather than that they should send it

The payment means code (BT-81) is "59", which is a direct debit — you are telling the buyer that you will take the money rather than that they should send it. Peppol therefore requires the mandate reference (BT-89): the identifier of the authorisation the buyer signed permitting exactly that. Without it the buyer cannot reconcile the collection against a mandate they granted, and under the SEPA rulebook they can reclaim the funds for up to eight weeks with no reason given. Core EN 16931 leaves BT-89 optional; this is a tightening, and a well-judged one. This is a Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 profile rule: it applies because profile is "peppol-bis-3". It does not apply to the en16931, xrechnung-ubl or xrechnung-cii profiles, whose validators will accept the same document.

This rule is implemented and its error payload below is real, but the long-form write-up — normative text, worked example, divergence note — is not written yet. Everything the library knows about this rule is on this page. Ask and we will prioritise it.

Business term
BT-89
Severity
fatal

What the library returns

The exact object in result.errors when this rule fires. Generated by running @attestwire/en16931, not transcribed:

TeachingError
{
  "rule": "PEPPOL-EN16931-R061",
  "field": "BT-89",
  "severity": "fatal",
  "message": "The payment means code (BT-81) is \"59\", which is a direct debit — you are telling the buyer that you will take the money rather than that they should send it. Peppol therefore requires the mandate reference (BT-89): the identifier of the authorisation the buyer signed permitting exactly that. Without it the buyer cannot reconcile the collection against a mandate they granted, and under the SEPA rulebook they can reclaim the funds for up to eight weeks with no reason given. Core EN 16931 leaves BT-89 optional; this is a tightening, and a well-judged one. This is a Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 profile rule: it applies because profile is \"peppol-bis-3\". It does not apply to the en16931, xrechnung-ubl or xrechnung-cii profiles, whose validators will accept the same document.",
  "fix": "Set payment.directDebit.mandateReference to the mandate identifier (the Mandatsreferenz) you issued when the buyer signed the mandate. Peppol also expects the creditor identifier and the debited account alongside it — set payment.directDebit.creditorIdentifier and payment.directDebit.debitedAccount too.",
  "example": "\"payment\": { \"meansCode\": \"59\", \"directDebit\": { \"mandateReference\": \"MND-2026-0042\", \"creditorIdentifier\": \"DE98ZZZ09999999999\", \"debitedAccount\": \"DE02120300000000202051\" } }",
  "xpath": "/ubl:Invoice/cac:PaymentMeans/cac:PaymentMandate/cbc:ID",
  "docsUrl": "https://attestwire.com/rules/PEPPOL-EN16931-R061"
}

xpath locates the element in the generated UBL document, which is where a KoSIT or Peppol validator will report the same problem.

A passing value

the shape this field expects
"payment": { "meansCode": "59", "directDebit": { "mandateReference": "MND-2026-0042", "creditorIdentifier": "DE98ZZZ09999999999", "debitedAccount": "DE02120300000000202051" } }

The fix

Set payment.directDebit.mandateReference to the mandate identifier (the Mandatsreferenz) you issued when the buyer signed the mandate. Peppol also expects the creditor identifier and the debited account alongside it — set payment.directDebit.creditorIdentifier and payment.directDebit.debitedAccount too.

Arrived from a stack trace? The docsUrl on every error links straight here. Something wrong on this page — tell us.