Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of Directive 2011/7/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 on combating late payment in commercial transactions

Directive 2011/7/EU on combating late payment in commercial transactions was adopted on 16 February 2011 with a deadline for transposition into the national laws of all Member States of 16 March 2013.

The specific objectives of the Directive are:
- To provide creditors with timely payments and measures that enable them to fully and effectively exercise their rights when paid late.
- To confront debtors with strict measures that discourage them from paying late or from establishing excessively long contractual payment terms.

The Directive also pursues the following general objectives:
- To facilitate the functioning of the internal market by streamlining payment practices across the EU.
- To develop a legal and business environment supportive of timely payments in commercial transactions in order to facilitate access to finance for SMEs.

This report assesses whether the Directive is on track to achieve its intended objectives and includes recommendations on how to improve its implementation. There are three key factors that rendered a definitive ex-post evaluation a challenge: the recent entry into force of the Directive; the difficulty to isolate the role of the Directive in changes seen on the ground; external conjuncture such as the financial crisis and the economic situation of certain Member States.

EUR-Lex: SWD(2016)278: Evaluation of the Late Payment Directive / REFIT Evaluation http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2016:278:FIN

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