Late payments directive - EUF's primary concerns

Page 2 of 2: EUF's primary concerns

The EUF's is primarily concerned by the following

• We believe that stricter enforcement measures should be put into place as the Directive in its current status may not prevent (especially public) debtors from paying late.  We see that some Member States are still facing difficulties in relation to the implementation of the previous Late Payment Directive. The current amendments made to the 2000/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on combating late payment, we feel are not sufficient to ensure the public sector pay by required deadlines.
• We fear that the introduction of provisions establishing interests rates and compensation costs in favour of creditors, may not be sufficient to disincentivise late payers.
• The EUF also encourages decision makers to further address problems such as the enforcement of the judgement and titles, in particular with regard to the different enforcement costs amongst Member States, which are the main reason for putting creditors off when fighting for their rights.

The EUF welcomes the reissuing of the late payments directive, but believes that this proposal to amend the existing directive will not bring about significant practical changes to the current situation unless further enforcement measures are taken into consideration simultaneously.

The EUF is the Representative Body for the Factoring and Commercial Finance Industry in the EU. It is composed of national and international industry associations that are active in the EU.

Factoring is a method of business financing: a company sells its accounts receivables to a factoring company at a discount in exchange for immediate liquidity with which to finance continued business. Factoring is especially attractive to small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly during periods of rapid growth, because cash flow is preserved and risk eliminated. Larger companies may also use Factoring services as a practical tool to provide additional working capital, by financing their domestic and international trade transactions.

The EUF seeks to engage with Government and legislators to enhance the availability of finance to business, with a particular emphasis on the SME community. The EUF, acts as a platform between the factoring and commercial finance industry and key legislative decision makers across Europe bringing together national experts to speak with one voice.

The EUF offers itself as a source of reference and expertise between the factoring and commercial finance industry and key legislative decision makers across Europe. Its aim is to provide legislators and policy makers with vital industry information to inform, influence and assist with the direction of existing and future finance legislation with a view to ensuring the continued provision of prudent, well structured and reasonably priced finance to businesses across the EU.