Free Peppol Validator for
BIS Billing 3.0 XML Invoices

A Peppol validator checks whether a UBL XML invoice complies with Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 and EN16931 business rules. It runs schematron-based checks for schema issues, missing fields, invalid identifiers, and rule violations.

An electronic invoice (e-invoice) is a structured digital document exchanged directly between seller and buyer systems, not a PDF or scanned image. In Europe, e-invoices follow the EN16931 standard and are typically encoded as UBL 2.1 XML. They can be validated, processed, and booked automatically without manual data entry.

Upload your UBL XML invoice above and run validation against EN16931 and Peppol BIS schematron rules. Errors and warnings are shown inline with rule references. For CII / Factur-X invoices, use our Factur-X validator. Factur-X / CII validator

UBL (Universal Business Language) 2.1 is the OASIS XML standard that defines the data format for invoices and credit notes. Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is a profile built on top of UBL 2.1 that restricts and extends it with specific business rules for the Peppol network. EN16931 sits in between as the European semantic standard. When you validate here, we check both the Peppol BIS layer and the EN16931 layer.

Common causes include missing mandatory fields (like seller/buyer identifiers or tax breakdowns), incorrect InvoiceTypeCode (BT-3), scheme ID mismatches on electronic addresses (PEPPOL-EN16931-R004), empty XML elements (PEPPOL-EN16931-R008), and calculation mismatches on line or document totals (BR-CO rules). See all 311 validation errors explained

Yes. Upload a UBL CreditNote XML file and it will be validated against the same Peppol BIS 3.0 and EN16931 rules. Peppol supports two approaches: a dedicated CreditNote document (code 381, positive amounts) or a negative Invoice (code 380, negative amounts). Both are valid. Credit note validation guide

Yes. Drop as many XML files as you need and review all validation results in one session. Each session gets a shareable URL.

Belgium mandates B2B e-invoicing via Peppol since January 2026, with penalties enforced from April 2026. Germany requires all businesses to receive structured e-invoices since January 2025, with sending obligations phased through 2028. France starts its B2B mandate in September 2026 for large enterprises. Spain's Crea y Crece Law mandates B2B e-invoicing with a phased rollout. The Netherlands mandates B2G e-invoicing and has very high voluntary B2B adoption. Italy has required e-invoicing via SDI since 2019. Norway was a Peppol pioneer with mandatory B2G since 2012. See all mandates by country

EN16931 is the European standard for the semantic data model of an electronic invoice, published by CEN. It defines what information an invoice must contain (like BT-1 Invoice Number, BT-3 Invoice Type Code, BG-7 Buyer information) without prescribing a specific format. Peppol BIS 3.0 implements EN16931 using UBL 2.1 XML as the syntax.

Key mandatory fields include: Invoice number (BT-1), Issue date (BT-2), Invoice type code (BT-3), Currency code (BT-5), Seller name and identifier (BG-4), Buyer name (BG-7), line items with descriptions and amounts, and VAT breakdown with category codes. Missing any of these triggers BR-series validation errors.

Validation and delivery are two separate jobs. For validation, the best free tools all run the official EN16931 and Peppol BIS 3.0 schematrons unchanged: Peppol Validator (this site), the OpenPeppol Practical validator (peppol.helger.com), the ecosio validator, and the Norwegian Anskaffelser EHF validator. They differ mostly in UI, supported syntaxes (UBL only vs UBL plus CII / Factur-X / XRechnung), and result-sharing features. For delivery, you need a certified Peppol Access Point such as Storecove, Tradeshift, Pagero, B2BRouter, or your ERP vendor's broker. The right combination for most teams is one validator wired into CI plus one Access Point for production exchange.

All run the same official schematron rule sets, so a valid invoice is valid everywhere. Peppol Validator differs in three ways: it accepts batch uploads with shareable result URLs, it supports UBL plus CII / Factur-X / XRechnung in one interface, and it exposes a REST API and MCP server for AI agents. The OpenPeppol Practical (Helger) validator is the canonical reference and supports the widest set of national CIUS profiles. The ecosio validator focuses on tight feedback for B2B onboarding flows. The Anskaffelser EHF validator is tailored to Norwegian EHF documents. None of these requires signup for basic use.