Brussels, 15/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - Debate is continuing at the Council of Ministers over the draft Directive introducing a 30-day deadline for the public sector to pay its bills (see EUROPE 9879). France is unhappy with the compromise deal set out earlier this month by the Swedish Presidency of the EU, a compromise that this newsletter has got hold of and which takes up the European Commission's idea of a 30-day deadline. France suggests that the deadline should be 60 days or 45 days from the end of the invoice month, which already applies to business-to-business payments (in theory). Belgium, Greece, Latvia and Poland say that 30 days is not long enough. Germany and Portugal believe that the public sector should be treated the same way as the private sector. Finland, Malta, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom want a thirty-day limit.
The draft legislation allows for the following extensions to the deadline: 1) where both parties agree on a different timeline; and 2) longer than 30 days is allowed in certain unspecified circumstances. Several Member States, including Luxembourg, query whether the deadline should apply to bills for healthcare. Malta fears that the payment deadline might impact negatively on delivery times, but the European Commission argues that negotiated procedures and procedures covering only one of the parties to a payment justify the suggested degree of flexibility. Austria wants a list of situations justifying late payments to be drawn up, while Finland and the UK argue that it is not possible to predict in advance all possible cases where a longer payment period will be required.
Small Business Act. In its impact assessment of the EU's Small Business Act (an EU ,measures to encourage greater competitiveness and job-creation in small businesses), the European Commission welcomes the measures taken in several Member States ahead of the introduction of Directive 200/35/EC on payment deadlines. In the United Kingdom, for example, central government has pledged to settle its bills within ten days. France requires state bodies to pay their suppliers in thirty days and local authorities are required to match this by July 2010. Special sector-specific agreements can be negotiated, however, setting longer time limits. The late payers' club is dominated by Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal. Portugal has introduced a special programme to eventually reduce payment times to between 30 and 40 days. Germany has introduced measures on Business to Consumer payments (B2C). Bulgaria is planning to beef up the interest that can be charged on late payment from by 10% or 20%.
In a press release acknowledging some 'positive steps,' the European Association of Craft and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME) points out that the governments that have introduced special measures are keener to take action on late payments by businesses than on their own late payments. Eurochambers, the European Chambers of Commerce and Industry Association, has sounded its members out on the impact of the SBA and says that 40% of countries have done little or nothing to deal with late payments. Nearly half of Eurochambers' members in countries where special measures have been introduced have not noticed the measures making any improvement. Eurochambers is concerned about the wide range of different types of measure being taken, which do not tally the aims of the draft directive. (M.B. trans fl)