French Commercial code
In forceI.-Unless otherwise provided for in the terms and conditions of sale or agreed between the parties, the period for payment of sums due may not exceed thirty days after the date of receipt of the goods or performance of the service requested.
The period agreed between the parties for payment of sums due may not exceed sixty days after the date of issue of the invoice.
By way of derogation, a maximum period of forty-five days end of month after the date of issue of the invoice may be agreed between the parties, provided that this period is expressly stipulated by contract and that it does not constitute a manifest abuse in relation to the creditor.
In the case of a periodic invoice within the meaning of 3 of the I of Article 289 of the General Tax Code, the period agreed between the parties may not exceed forty-five days after the date of issue of the invoice.
II.-The terms of payment referred to in I of article L. 441-1 specify the conditions of application and the interest rate for late payment penalties payable on the day following the payment date shown on the invoice, as well as the amount of the fixed indemnity for recovery costs due to the creditor if the sums due are paid after this date. Unless otherwise stipulated, which may not however set a rate lower than three times the legal interest rate, this rate is equal to the interest rate applied by the European Central Bank to its most recent refinancing operation plus 10 percentage points. In this case, the rate applicable during the first six months of the year concerned is the rate in force on 1st January of the year in question. For the second half of the year concerned, it is the rate in force on 1st July of the year in question. Late payment penalties are payable without the need for a reminder. Any professional who is late in making a payment is automatically liable to pay the creditor a fixed indemnity for collection costs, the amount of which is set by decree. Where the recovery costs incurred exceed the amount of this flat-rate compensation, the creditor may request additional compensation, subject to justification. However, the creditor may not invoke the benefit of these indemnities where the opening of safeguard, receivership or compulsory liquidation proceedings prohibits payment on its due date of the debt owed to it.
III.-Subject to specific provisions that are more favourable to the creditor, where provision is made for an acceptance or verification procedure to certify the conformity of the goods or services to the contract, the duration of this procedure is set in accordance with good commercial practice and custom and, in any event, does not exceed thirty days from the date of receipt of the goods or performance of the services, unless expressly stipulated otherwise by contract and provided that this does not constitute an unfair term or practice within the meaning of the penultimate paragraph of Article L. 441-16 or Article L. 442-1. The duration of the acceptance or verification procedure may not have the effect of either increasing the duration or shifting the starting point of the maximum payment period provided for in the second, third and fourth paragraphs of I, unless expressly stipulated otherwise by contract and provided that this does not constitute an unfair term or practice, within the meaning of the penultimate paragraph of Article L. 441-16 or Article L. 442-1.
