REPORTS
Excessive delays in payments to companies in the health sector in infringement of EU law: INFR (2019) 2298
1. Each Member State of the European Union shall apply EU law and take appropriate action to that end. The European Commission is the body responsible for detecting possible breaches of EU law.
In the event that a Member State does not apply Union law and fails to fulfill any of the obligations laid down in the EU Treaties, the European Commission may initiate formal infringement proceedings under Articles 258 and 260 TFEU (details of infringement proceedings here).
2. According to Directive 2011/7/EU (to combat late payment in commercial transactions) public authorities must pay their invoices within 30 days (or 60 days in the case of public hospitals) and thus set an example in combating the culture of late payments in the business environment. The Commission points out that late payments have a negative effect on companies, as they reduce their liquidity and prevent them from growing. Businesses and especially SMEs rely on regular payments to maintain employment, which is all the more true in the current context of the health crisis and financial hardship.
However, Greece has not complied with the requirements of this directive. In the “February infringement package: key decisions/18-2-2021,” the European Commission states that it has sent a “letter of formal notice” to Greece, urging it to comply with the Late Payments Directive and ensure that businesses and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the health sector are paid on time [infringement number: INFR (2019) 2298].
This is because in the opinion of the European Commission, the excessive delay of payments in the field of health is a practice that violates the provisions of the above directive, and therefore EU law.
The application of EU law is an obligation of the Member States of the European Union. If possible breaches of EU law are detected, the European Commission may take a series of actions against that Member State to ensure the correct and full application of EU law by initiating infringement proceedings in accordance with Articles 258 and 260 of the TFEU..
In this case, the European Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Greece, calling on it to comply with the provisions of the Directive on combating late payment in commercial transactions (Directive 2011/7/EU). This is because excessive delays in payments in the health sector are, in the Commission’s view, a breach of the provisions of the above-mentioned directive
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