UBL-CR-682: Move the delivery address into DeliveryLocation

The short answer

UBL-CR-682 warns when cac:Delivery contains a cac:DeliveryAddress. The element exists in UBL but has no place in the EN 16931 model. Move the address into cac:Delivery/cac:DeliveryLocation/cac:Address, where the deliver-to address belongs.

This is a warning, and the document stays valid with it. The address it holds, though, is not treated as the deliver-to address by the rules that check one.

What the rule checks

The check is made once per document, at the root: it looks for a cac:DeliveryAddress child of cac:Delivery. Its content does not matter; any such element draws the warning.

The severity is warning, so it never makes a document invalid by itself. The recorded invoice with the warning has an outcome of valid, with this as its only finding.

Rules about the deliver-to address look only in cac:DeliveryLocation/cac:Address. When tried, a cac:DeliveryAddress with no country at all passed BR-57, and an intra-community invoice with its delivery country only in cac:DeliveryAddress failed BR-IC-12.

Checks that apply to every address still reach inside it: when tried, UK as its country code was reported by BR-CL-14.

How an integration ends up here

Possible causes, from the shape of the rule rather than from measured usage:

• The UBL was produced from a generic UBL 2.1 template or class library, where cac:DeliveryAddress is the obvious field for a ship-to address.
• The invoice is converted from an order or despatch document that carries the delivery address directly under the delivery.
• The UBL schema accepts both paths, so the mapping looked correct until it was checked against the EN 16931 binding.

How to fix it

1. Replace cac:DeliveryAddress with cac:DeliveryLocation containing cac:Address, and move the address elements across unchanged.
2. Keep the UBL order inside cac:Delivery: cbc:ActualDeliveryDate first, then cac:DeliveryLocation, then cac:DeliveryParty if used. When tried, cac:DeliveryLocation placed before the date failed the XSD layer.
3. Make sure the moved address has cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode. Once it is inside cac:DeliveryLocation, BR-57 requires it.
4. If the delivery point has an identifier, such as a GLN, it goes in cac:DeliveryLocation/cbc:ID, before cac:Address.

Validate your corrected invoice

Before and after

These are fragments, not complete documents. The complete synthetic documents they come from are linked below.

Fragment of the invoice with the warning: the address sits in DeliveryAddress, and the invoice is still valid

<cac:Delivery>
  <cbc:ActualDeliveryDate>2026-09-07</cbc:ActualDeliveryDate>
  <cac:DeliveryAddress>
    <cbc:StreetName>3 Delivery Street</cbc:StreetName>
    <cac:Country>
      <cbc:IdentificationCode>GB</cbc:IdentificationCode>
    </cac:Country>
  </cac:DeliveryAddress>
</cac:Delivery>

Fragment of the corrected invoice: the same address inside DeliveryLocation

<cac:Delivery>
  <cbc:ActualDeliveryDate>2026-09-07</cbc:ActualDeliveryDate>
  <cac:DeliveryLocation>
    <cac:Address>
      <cbc:StreetName>3 Delivery Street</cbc:StreetName>
      <cac:Country>
        <cbc:IdentificationCode>GB</cbc:IdentificationCode>
      </cac:Country>
    </cac:Address>
  </cac:DeliveryLocation>
</cac:Delivery>

The corrected invoice wraps the same street and country in cac:DeliveryLocation/cac:Address; the other one writes them in cac:DeliveryAddress. That document has an outcome of valid and reports only UBL-CR-682, a warning. Moving the address removes the warning and puts the address where BR-57 and the other deliver-to rules look for it.

Where it applies

• Credit notes get the same warning. When tried, a credit note with cac:DeliveryAddress was valid, with UBL-CR-682 as its only finding.
• Reported on the EN 16931 layer, which reports UBL elements outside the model as warnings. Neighbouring warnings cover other unused elements, such as UBL-CR-378 for a country name in the deliver-to address.
• The warning is about where the address is written, not about the delivery itself. cac:Delivery with only cbc:ActualDeliveryDate draws no warning.

Related rules

• BR-57 requires the country code in the deliver-to address, and reads only DeliveryLocation/Address
• BR-IC-12 fails an intra-community supply whose delivery country is only in DeliveryAddress
• BR-CL-14 checks the country code wherever the address is written
• Browse every rule in the reference
• Background: Understanding EN 16931 validation errors

Scope and source

Written for Peppol BIS Billing 3.0.21 (May 2026), EN 16931 1.3.16, as applied to UBL 2.1 Invoice and CreditNote documents. Other profiles, syntaxes and releases can define this identifier differently. Guidance version 2026-09-24.1: source checked 2026-09-24, explanation last updated 2026-09-24.

The official definition of UBL-CR-682 carries the normative wording and test. This page is our explanation of it, not a copy.

Guidance does not change the engine verdict. Fixing this finding does not mean the document passes every layer, and validation does not certify legal or tax compliance or transmit a document over Peppol.