Billing legislation

-the conditions of sale;

-the scale of unit prices;

-the price reductions;

-the payment conditions.

The general conditions of sale can be differentiated according to the categories of purchasers of products or of applicants for the provision of services. In this case, the communication obligation prescribed in the first paragraph relates to the general conditions of sale applicable to buyers of products or to requesters of services of the same category.

Any producer, service provider, wholesaler or importer may agree with a purchaser of products or requesting the provision of services on special conditions of sale which are not subject to the communication obligation prescribed in the first paragraph.

Unless otherwise specified in the conditions of sale or agreed between the parties, the deadline for payment of the sums due is set at the thirtieth day following the date of receipt of the goods or of performance of the requested service.

The period agreed between the parties to settle the sums due may not exceed forty-five days at the end of the month or sixty days from the date of issue of the invoice.

Professionals in a sector, customers and suppliers, can jointly decide to reduce the maximum payment period set in the previous paragraph. They may also propose to use the date of receipt of the goods or performance of the service provision requested as the starting point of this period. Agreements are concluded for this purpose by their professional organizations. A decree may extend the new maximum payment period to all operators in the sector or, if necessary, validate the new method of calculation and extend it to these same operators.

Notwithstanding the preceding provisions, for the road transport of goods, for the rental of vehicles with or without driver, for the transport commission as well as for the activities of freight forwarder, shipping agent and air freight, freight broker and customs broker, the agreed payment terms may in no case exceed thirty days from the date of issue of the invoice.

The payment conditions must specify the conditions of application and the interest rate for late payment penalties due on the day following the payment date appearing on the invoice in the event that the sums due are paid after this date. Unless otherwise provided, which cannot 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 increased by 10 percentage points . Late payment penalties are payable without a reminder being necessary.

The communication provided for in the first paragraph is carried out by any means consistent with the practice of the profession.

Failure to comply with the payment deadlines mentioned in the eighth and eleventh paragraphs, the failure to indicate in the payment terms the particulars appearing in the first sentence of the twelfth paragraph as well as the fact of fixing a rate or conditions of payment in accordance with terms not in accordance with the provisions of the same paragraph.

NOTE:

Law n ° 2008-776 of August 4, 2008 JORF of August 5, 2008 art. 21 IV: changes induced by this Act apply to contracts concluded as from 1 ^st January 2009.

Article L441-6-1

Companies whose annual accounts are certified by an auditor publish information on the payment terms of their suppliers or their customers according to the terms defined by decree.

This information is the subject of a report by the statutory auditor under the conditions set by this same decree. The auditor sends the said report to the minister responsible for the economy if he repeatedly demonstrates significant breaches of the requirements of the ninth and tenth paragraphs of article L.