Locks and Security News: your weekly locks and security industry newsletter
17th April 2024 Issue no. 701
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Late Payments Directive to be brought forward
European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani announced on 17th October, during the launch conference of EurActiv Italia, that he is to tell member states to pursue early transposition into national law of the late payments directive, scheduled initially for 2013.
"I will send a letter to all member states to ask the advance transposition of the late payments directive, which was initially scheduled for January 2013, but we decided to anticipate it," he said, accusing governments of being too focused on containing public debt and not focused enough on pushing for growth.
Delays in payments have long been an issue of concern for small and medium-sized enterprises, especially since disruption to cash flow can mean the difference between solvency and bankruptcy.
With the current economic crisis, the challenge of late payments is becoming ever greater, both because delays in payments are growing and because the other sources of finance which SMEs traditionally use to tide themselves over, such as credit lines and bank loans, are drying up.
The Commission vice-president sees SMEs' internationalisation as a way out of the crisis as only 13% of these companies operate beyond borders. "Too many bureaucratic obstacles hamper SMEs competitiveness," he warned.
9th November 2011