Troubleshoot delivery problems
A document didn’t arrive, or you got an error back? Work through these common causes — most problems come down to addressing, registration or formatting.
Start here
Three things have to be true for a Peppol document to arrive:
- The recipient is registered on the network and reachable for that document type.
- You used the correct Participant ID (and scheme) for them.
- The document is valid against the agreed BIS profile.
Work through the questions below in order.
Common problems
My document was accepted but the recipient says it never arrived
Acceptance by your Access Point only means it entered the network. Check:
- You used the recipient’s exact Participant ID and the right scheme.
- The recipient is registered to receive that document type (e.g. they accept invoices, but maybe not orders).
- Ask the recipient to check with their Access Point, since delivery happens at their corner.
I get "Participant not found" or "receiver not registered"
The lookup (SMP/SML) has no entry for that ID and document type. Usually this means:
- A typo in the Participant ID or the wrong scheme prefix.
- The recipient isn’t on Peppol, or isn’t registered for that document type.
- Confirm the ID directly with the recipient, and ask which document types they accept.
My invoice was rejected for validation errors
The document reached the recipient but failed the BIS rules. Look at the returned
Message Level Response or your Access Point’s validation report, then fix the offending
fields. See error codes below for what the prefixes mean.
I never get a response at all
Some flows return a Message Level Response (MLR) or invoice response; many do not by default.
Absence of a response isn’t proof of failure. Check your Access Point’s sent-items log to
confirm the document left the network successfully.
Understanding error codes
Validation errors usually carry a prefix that tells you which rule set flagged them:
| Prefix | Rule set | Typical cause |
|---|---|---|
BR- | EN 16931 business rules | A required business value is missing or inconsistent (e.g. totals don’t add up). |
PEPPOL- | Peppol BIS rules | A Peppol-specific requirement on top of EN 16931 wasn’t met. |
BII2- / CL- | Code-list rules | A code (country, currency, unit, tax category) isn’t from the allowed list. |
XSD / schema | Structural | The XML itself is malformed or in the wrong element order. |
The number after the prefix points to the specific rule. Search your Access Point’s
validation report for the full message — it names the exact field at fault.
Still stuck?
- Re-check the recipient’s Participant ID and accepted document types.
- Ask your Access Point to review the sent-items log and validation report with you.
- Look up unfamiliar terms in the glossary.