We're nearly at the final hurdle for directive 2011/7/EU. The deadline for implementation is 16 March 2013 and so far most countries look to be transposing the directive exactly in the form suggested by the EU Commission and EU Parliament. But there have been some exceptions. For example, in the UK it has been decided that the maximum payment term for all public authorities (including healthcare) will be 30 days and the fines per invoice will start at £40 per invoice rather than the directive's flat rate fine of €40. In Denmark, if the term is more than 30 days it must be agreed in writing. In Italy the maximum term will be 60 days on all contracts from 1 January 2013. The key point that we expected was that the directive is not retrospective, i.e. for contracts enacted before the legislation has become active the payment term can still be in excess of 60 days. So it might take a while before we see any real effects of the legislation for those suppliers that must endure excessive payment terms. One of the most surprising points is that our estimates suggest that if all of Europe's top 800 companies had maximum receivables days of 60 and maximum payables days of 60 then the largest companies would stand to gain up to €78 billion in cash flow. That does not seem to be what was intended.

(Source: Informita News - Issue 03.)