The report shows that late payments occur in EU countries facing adverse financial conditions, such as Greece where payments of commercial transactions take from 110 to 160 days, Italy 90 – 170 days, Spain, 80 – 160 days, Spain 80 to 160 days and Portugal where payments take from 75 to 135 days.

The lowest payment period occur in states such as Finland and Estonia where payments do no exceed 40 days.

According to the late payments Directive (211/7/EU) public authorities have to pay for the goods and services that they procure within 30 days or, in very exceptional circumstances, within 60 days, whereas Enterprises have to pay their invoices within 60 days, unless they expressly agree otherwise.

The Directive stipulates that the statutory interest rate for late payment in the member-states should be increased to at least 8 percentage points above the European Central Bank’s reference, while public authorities are not allowed to fix an interest rate for late payment below that threshold.

Source: Cyprus Mail