Late penalties are automatically due!

As a reminder, when a company acts against a customer who did not settle the invoice at the due date, it can also claim late penalties even if they are not provided for in the terms and conditions of sale.

The judges have just recalled that penalties for late payment, in case of non-payment of an invoice, are due automatically, without a reminder being necessary and without these penalties being necessarily indicated in the general conditions of the contracts.

In other words, if a company turns against another company to obtain payment of an unpaid invoice by the due date, it is also entitled to claim late penalties, even if these penalties are not provided for in the general conditions of sale.

Then, the rate of late penalties applicable is the one by the European Central Bank to its most recent refinancing operation (rate “refi”) plus 10 percentage points, or 10% currently.

Caution:

The law requires companies to provide late penalties for their business customers.

The terms of application and the rate of these penalties must be specified in the general conditions of sale of their contracts. This rate can be freely fixed, knowing however that it cannot be less than 3 times the legal interest rate: 2.67% currently.

Failure to comply with this obligation is even punishable by a fine of up to € 75,000 in the case of a sole proprietorship and € 2 million in the case of a company.