Reading the USARTn.RXDATAL register will return the contents of the eight least significant RXDATA bits.

The receive buffer consists of a two-level buffer. The data buffer and the corresponding flags in the high byte of RXDATA will change state whenever the receive buffer is accessed (read). If the CHSIZE bits in the USARTn.CTRLC register are set to 9BIT Low byte first, read the USARTn.RXDATAL register before the USARTn.RXDATAH register. Otherwise, always read the USARTn.RXDATAH register before the USARTn.RXDATAL register in order to get the correct flags.