ZWALCZANIE OPÓŹNIEŃ W PŁATNOŚCIACH W TRANSAKCJACH HANDLOWYCH W ŚWIETLE DYREKTYWY 2000/35/WE I PRAWA POLSKIEGO

Combating Late Payment in Commercial Transactions in the Light of the Directive 2000/35/EC and in the Polish LawSummaryThe European Community has recognized late payments as one of important obstacles to a good functioning of the internal market. The preparatory works of the EC in this field prove that a long way has been come from the European Parliament’s initiative to the directive 2000/35/E C of the European Parliament and the Council dated 29 June 2000 on combating late payment in commercial transactions. A rather limited scope of the directive is a result of extensive modifications introduced by the Council to the initial proposals. The directive concentrates on the interests in case of late payment, reasonable compensation for recovery costs, retention of title and recovery procedures for unchallenged claims. The above study presents the substance of the directive and its transposition rules.The first attempt to implement the EC directive in Poland was the law of 6 September 2001. As it was not satisfactory, a new law on payment terms in commercial transactions was issued on 12 June 2003. It will enter into force on 1 January 2004. This new law is limited to interests and procedural aspects. The above study presents the results of the directive’s transposition within this law. The act of law from 2003 certainly sets new limits on the freedom of contracts, but it is an interesting and rare example of a protection of weaker parts to the contract, which are not consumers, but enterprises. W hat should be reproached is that a typical civil matter is regulated in an act of law separate from the Polish Civil Code. A breach of the rule of the integrity of the Polish Civil Code is again a price for the fast implementation of the EC law in Poland.