The Ministry of Industry and Tourism continues to advance the State Special Criminal Observatory. At the head of the department, Jordi Hereu focused on public participation. The draft royal decree regulating this body sets a deadline of January 29 and fits within the framework of the Create and Grow Act. A key element is the annual publication of a public list that names companies delaying payments to suppliers. The electronic invoice system for all commercial transactions is slated for publication during the first eight months of each year.
Government to publish blacklist of companies that are late in paying bills
This blacklist will include companies with more than 600,000 euros in overdue payments to suppliers and whose invoicing completion falls below 10 percent within the statutory period, as outlined in the Create and Grow Law approved in September 2022. The first publication has been postponed for at least one more year. To ensure the electronic invoice system promoted by the Ministry of Finance is ready and to create a list of slow payers, the invoice data provided by the Tax Office will reflect totals as of December 31 of the prior year.
Once the data is gathered, the list must be released. It will be published by August 31 of the current year on the ipyme.org website and will include the company name, tax identification number, CNAE activity code, and the total amount of invoices awaiting payment.
The preparation of this annual list is among the tasks of the Criminal Observatory, which is also required to prepare a year-end report. The report assesses the situation of payment terms and late payments and will be posted on the Ministry of Industry and Tourism’s commercial activities website. It will also include information about public administrations reported by the Ministry of Finance and Public Duties.
observatory members
The Late Payment Observatory will be chaired by the First Vice President of the Council of State for SMEs, serving as President for small and medium enterprises. The Ministry of Industry will appoint the Minister of State for Industry, who will lead the Observatory. Rebeca Torró is designated as the current chair. Each ministry of Industry, Economy and Finance will appoint a representative, and there will be two members representing regional authorities.
The group will also include one member from the Public Administration responsible for managing the public electronic billing solution, one member from the Chamber of Commerce, and one member from INE. Additionally, two representatives will come from the nation’s most representative state-level and cross-sector business organizations for small and medium enterprises. Two more members will come from associations or other specialized bodies focused on late payment issues.
After the royal decree is approved and comes into force, administrations and associations will have 30 days to appoint their members and to establish the body within two months.
Improve behavior
The aim of this standard is to improve payment behavior among companies, particularly those that affect SMEs economically. The draft royal decree cites data from the Criminal Observatory report for the first quarter of 2022 prepared by the Spanish Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises (CEPYME).
According to the data, late payments on commercial debt totaled nearly 350 billion euros, marking an annual increase of 41.9 percent. With these figures and the 8 percent interest rate, late-payment interest and the due amounts are expected to reach 2.058 million euros, up 50.9 percent year over year. A portion of this rise is attributed to a higher share of invoices paid late and a 33 percent increase in late-payment invoices compared to the first quarter of 2021. The aim is that improved payment behavior will help mitigate these impacts, according to the observers and officials involved.
[Citation: Government policy reports and industry metrics regarding late payments, attributed to the observatory and referenced sources.]