Late payments: Olivia Grégoire wants to strengthen sanctions against “bad payers”

“Neither acceptable nor understandable.” The Minister Delegate for Business Olivia Grégoire wants to strengthen the sanctions concerning late payments which weaken small and medium-sized French businesses. In an interview published this Wednesday in Les Échos, she announced that she wanted to “double the ceiling” of fines imposed on offending companies, currently at 2 million euros. Olivia Grégoire also indicates that payment deadlines for local authorities will now be published, like private companies. This data, collected by the General Directorate of Public Finances, will be published on the government's open data site "by April 15 for municipalities with more than 3,500 inhabitants and, by the end of the year, for all communities”. Ultimately, the minister wishes to extend the measure to all public establishments and does not rule out “communicating on these bad payers”. “It’s a question of economic justice,” she explains.

Payment deadlines are not an anecdotal subject for companies, especially the smallest ones. “While their cash flow is strained, VSEs and artisans may feel discouraged in the face of payment delays from large companies or local authorities. This could be the extra straw as they face inflation, the necessary investments in decarbonization and the increase in the salaries of their employees,” lamented Olivia Grégoire. “A late payment on a large invoice can jeopardize a business,” she assures. According to the minister, the amount of this cash in nature amounts to “15 billion euros”. Certain sectors would be particularly impacted, building or construction in particular.

Late payments are already sanctioned by the State. Since 2014, 2,000 companies have been fined for a total amount of 157 million euros. Last year, the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) monitored the payment deadlines of 766 companies, 346 of which received administrative fines of 58 million euros. . Olivia Grégoire ensures that these controls, up 19% compared to 2022, will be strengthened to support the increase in fines.

The State also uses “name and shame” when communicating to the media about companies at fault. “Today, damaging a company’s reputation is not trivial. It’s the whole arsenal that works (...) to achieve reputation, downgrade the rating and hit the wallet.” If tracking down “bad payers” is one of Bercy’s priorities, the minister does not subscribe to the proposal made by the European Commission to reduce payment deadlines to 30 days for all companies. “SMEs will be penalized if we reduce the legal deadline from 60 to 30 days. This measure would disrupt trade and favor imports. We are in favor of maintaining the legal deadline at 60 days with sectoral exemptions,” commented Olivia Grégoire, while calling for a strengthening of sanctions at European level.