# BR-CO-21

Quoted from a public specification. This page is not a validator, and it is not tax, legal, or accounting advice.

- Country: EU
- Syntax: UBL
- Severity: fatal
- Statement language: en
- Last verified: 2026-10-18

## Official statement

> Each Document level allowance (BG-20) shall contain a Document level allowance reason (BT-97) or a Document level allowance reason code (BT-98), or both.

Source: https://docs.peppol.eu/poacc/billing/3.0/rules/ubl-tc434/BR-CO-21/

Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, May 2026 release, EN 16931 model bound to UBL

Severity note: fatal, from the Flag column of the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 UBL rules index retrieved 2026-10-18.

## Plain-language reading

Each Document level allowance (BG-20) must contain a Document level allowance reason (BT-97) or a Document level allowance reason code (BT-98), or both. The statement says "shall contain", not "shall have", and it ends with a period. The context writes ChargeIndicator = false() with spaces around =. The published test is exists on the reason or exists on the reason code.

## What to change

On each document-level allowance, send a Document level allowance reason (BT-97), a Document level allowance reason code (BT-98), or both.

## Illustration

Illustration of the condition in the official statement. Not an example published by the source.

**Fails the stated condition.** A document-level allowance has neither a reason nor a reason code.

**Passes the stated condition.** A document-level allowance has a reason and no reason code.

## Published context and test

Copied from the source. Not reimplemented on this page.

```
/ubl:Invoice/cac:AllowanceCharge[cbc:ChargeIndicator = false()] | /cn:CreditNote/cac:AllowanceCharge[cbc:ChargeIndicator = false()]
```

```
exists(cbc:AllowanceChargeReason) or exists(cbc:AllowanceChargeReasonCode)
```

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