What is EN 16931?
What is EN 16931? It is the European standard for e-invoicing. It defines which details an electronic invoice contains and what they are called.
By Vincent Rosenkranz, Sales & Marketing Manager at BESITEC · Updated 9 Nov 2026
In short. A semantic data model by the European Committee for Standardization, CEN. Each detail has a fixed ID, for example BT-1 for the invoice number. XRechnung, ZUGFeRD and Peppol BIS implement the standard.
What is defined in EN 16931?
The standard describes the content, not the file. It defines business terms, BT, and groups of them, BG. The allowed syntaxes define what the file looks like.
| ID | Meaning |
|---|---|
BT-1 | Invoice number |
BT-2 | Invoice date |
BT-10 | Buyer reference, the Leitweg-ID for German public bodies |
BT-31 | Seller VAT ID |
BG-25 | Invoice line group |
It is published by the European Committee for Standardization. It was triggered by Directive 2014/55/EU on e-invoicing in public procurement.
What is built on EN 16931?
XRechnung
German implementation as pure XML, in UBL or CII.
ZUGFeRD
PDF with embedded XML, from the EN 16931 profile.
Peppol BIS
Format of the Peppol network, used across Europe.
Such national or sector specific variants are called CIUS. They narrow the standard but may not contradict it.
Role in Germany
- Since 2025 a B2B invoice counts as an e-invoice if it complies with or is compatible with the standard
- EDI until end of 2027 procedures such as EDIFACT are allowed without this convertibility during the transition
- EDI from 2028 the data must convert to the standard’s data model without loss
EN 16931 FAQ
Is the standard a file format?
No. It is a data model. The file formats are UBL and CII.
What does CIUS mean?
Core Invoice Usage Specification. A variant of the standard for a country or purpose, such as XRechnung.
Do I have to buy the standard?
No. Thanks to an agreement between the European Commission and CEN, parts 1 and 2 are available free of charge via national standards bodies.
Does a PDF meet the standard?
No. Only a PDF with embedded structured data, such as ZUGFeRD from the EN 16931 profile.
More terms in the glossary
Do your invoices meet the standard?
In 30 minutes, Vincent Rosenkranz, Sales & Marketing Manager, clarifies what your invoice formats need to deliver.
