What Is ISO 4217?

ISO 4217 is the international standard that defines three-letter alphabetic codes for currencies. In PINT-AE electronic invoicing, these codes are mandatory wherever a monetary amount or currency is declared in the invoice XML. The standard is published by ISO and maintained in coordination with the Swiss Association for Standardisation.

The UAE Dirham Code: AED

The UAE Dirham's ISO 4217 code is AED. Any invoice denominated in UAE Dirhams must carry AED in the document currency code field (cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode). This is a mandatory element in every PINT-AE invoice. An invoice that omits the document currency code or uses an invalid value will fail ASP validation with a fatal error.

Where Currency Codes Appear in PINT-AE

Currency codes appear in several XML elements within a PINT-AE invoice. The document currency code (cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode) is mandatory and defines the currency in which all invoice amounts are expressed. Where a tax currency differs from the document currency — for example, where a foreign-currency invoice reports VAT in AED — the tax currency code (cbc:TaxCurrencyCode) is used as a separate element. The exchange rate between the two currencies must also be declared in accordance with Article 6 of Ministerial Decision No. 243 of 2025 and the BTAE-04 transaction rule.

Common Currency Codes in UAE B2B Transactions

CurrencyISO 4217 Code
UAE DirhamAED
US DollarUSD
EuroEUR
British Pound SterlingGBP
Saudi RiyalSAR
Indian RupeeINR
Chinese Yuan RenminbiCNY
Swiss FrancCHF
Japanese YenJPY

Foreign-Currency Invoices and Exchange Rate Obligations

UAE VAT rules require that where an invoice is denominated in a foreign currency, the VAT amount must be converted to AED using the exchange rate published by the UAE Central Bank on the date of supply. PINT-AE enforces this through the tax currency code mechanism: if cbc:TaxCurrencyCode is present and differs from cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode, the invoice must include the exchange rate and must reconcile the tax amounts in both currencies. Businesses with significant USD or EUR invoicing volumes need specific ERP configuration to handle this dual-currency calculation correctly at line level.

The PINT-AE Code List File

PINT-AE ships with a genericode file (ISO4217.gc) listing all permitted currency codes. The version used is ISO 4217:2015. Schematron validation runs against this file — any currency code not in the list will produce a fatal error. As with ISO 3166 country codes, businesses should reference the code list file distributed with PINT-AE BIS v1.0.2 rather than external sources, to avoid version mismatches.

ERP Configuration Checklist

  • Ensure the ERP currency code table maps all transaction currencies to their ISO 4217 three-letter codes
  • Confirm the PINT-AE XML output populates cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode on every invoice
  • For foreign-currency invoices, configure the ERP to include cbc:TaxCurrencyCode and the exchange rate in the XML payload
  • Verify that internal currency codes like "USD" and "EUR" are already in ISO 4217 format — most major ERP systems store these correctly
  • Check that less common transaction currencies (e.g. SGD, CNY, INR) are mapped and validated against the PINT-AE code list before go-live