Invoices Entrepreneurs have been charged default interest by setting the invoice due date on Saturday – the sender of the invoices: “Maybe it’s worth going to change the national way”

Finland Entrepreneurs says he has received recently responded to angry contacts from entrepreneurs regarding standard invoice reimbursements.

According to Entrepreneurs, these are invoices sent to entrepreneurs by the Porvoo Book Center logistics company. For example, bookstores, publishers and libraries order books from the Porvoo Book Center.

In the invoices sent by the Porvoo Book Center, the due date is marked on Saturday. Invoices via the online bank will not be sent automatically until the due date, in this case Saturday. Payment will not be shown to the recipient until the following Monday.

On this basis, the Porvoo Book Center has sent a new invoice, to which a small interest on arrears and a standard compensation of EUR 40 have been added. Standard compensation means compensation for recovery costs to which the creditor is entitled from the debtor company.

The company has outsourced collection invoices to Webshop as a Service WaaS oy.

Finland According to entrepreneurs, similar invoices have also been received from the online store Booky, with which the Porvoo Book Center belongs to the same Booky Group.

“It has not traditionally been part of Finnish business that standard compensation is levied despite late payments. Therefore, the bills are confusing and even angry for entrepreneurs, ”says the Head of Legislation for Entrepreneurs in Finland. Tiina Toivonen On the website of Finnish Entrepreneurs.

According to Toivonen, it may not be enough for invoices between companies that the payment has started on the due date. In practice, the law allows for the recovery of default interest and standard compensation in cases where the payment does not appear to the recipient during the due date.

However, companies can agree that payment will be made no later than the due date, in which case recovery can be made no earlier than 30 days after the invoice is sent.

However, according to entrepreneurs, charging a standard fee requires that the fee be paid late. In this case, the debtor is also obliged to pay default interest. If there is no obligation to pay default interest, there is no need to pay standard compensation, even if the invoice is otherwise paid late.

“

“It has not traditionally been part of Finnish business that standard compensation is levied despite late payments. That’s why bills are confusing and even angry among entrepreneurs. ”

Booky Group the main owner and a member of the Board of Booky.fi Antti Ypyän According to him, there is a conflict between the long-term practices of Finnish business and the legislation of the European Union.

“In our view, the way Finland is used to paying bills does not correspond to what has been required for payment in the EU for quite some time.”

Ypyä is also a member of the Board of Webshop as a Service WaaS oy and the Chairman of the Board of Porvoo Book Center.

The essence of the question is whether the invoice is considered paid when the payer makes an order to pay it in online banking or when the amount of money on the invoice is credited to the payee’s account.

Ypyä refers to what came into force in 2002 To the EU directivewhich provides that in the event of late payment in commercial transactions, the creditor is entitled to interest for late payment if “the creditor has not received the amount due on time, unless the debtor is not responsible for the delay”.

In The European Court of Justice ruled preliminary rulingaccording to which the directive must be interpreted as meaning that the amount due must be in the creditor ‘s account on the due date in order to avoid the payment of default interest.

One noteworthy point in the court’s decision is that it mentions the opposite position of the Finnish government. According to the decision, Finland in particular supported the argument that the court’s interpretation would lead to an unreasonable risk for the debtor related to the processing times of banking transactions.

However, according to the court, the argument supported by Finland did not invalidate its conclusion. It considered that the debtor could anticipate delays in processing bank transfers and thus avoid interest on arrears.

“

“If you are not used to doing things a certain way here, then maybe almost 20 years after the directive came into force, you should start changing that national way.”

Finland In their output, the entrepreneurs pointed out the due dates that occurred on Saturday in particular, when the payments did not appear in the creditor’s account until the following Monday.

However, according to Ypyy’s interpretation, there are no grounds in the law for the payment to appear in the creditor’s account only after the weekend in this case.

In his view, for example, the public holiday extension rule in the bond law, according to which a claim due on a weekend or public holiday may be paid on the following working day, must not be interpreted as leading to a conflict with EU law.

Sleep also denies allegations that the due dates were intentionally set for Saturdays. According to him, the invoices of the Porvoo Book Center seem to be due most on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

According to Ypyä, invoices due on Saturdays are in no way exceptional or prohibited.

“Obviously, only these due dates for the weekend now seem problematic. Invoices where the due date has occurred on a weekday have been paid on time, ”he says.

Sleep believes that the most interesting of the cases now raised will be decided by the courts.

“Let’s see what kind of case law this gets. In general, I believe that the method of payment in accordance with the directives must be followed now and in the future, whatever the outcome. ”

“If you are not used to doing things a certain way here, then maybe almost 20 years after the directive came into force, you should start changing that national way.”