EU Late Payment Rights Check for Freelancers

If you freelance in the EU, late-paying clients are not just a cash-flow problem: you have legal rights you can use. The Late Payment Directive (Directive 2011/7/EU), which every Member State has put into national law, applies to invoices between businesses and to work for public authorities. If your contract sets no payment date, a business client must pay within 30 days of receiving your invoice. Contract terms longer than 60 days are only allowed if expressly agreed and not grossly unfair to you, and public authorities must normally pay within 30 days. Once an invoice is late you are automatically entitled to statutory interest of at least 8 percentage points above the European Central Bank’s reference rate, plus a fixed €40 for recovery costs on each late invoice, without sending a reminder first.

Many freelancers never use these rights, often because of contract terms clients slip in. The Directive says terms that exclude late payment interest are grossly unfair and terms that exclude the €40 compensation are presumed grossly unfair, so a court can refuse to enforce them. For unpaid invoices there are cheap cross-border tools: the European Small Claims Procedure (Regulation (EC) No 861/2007) for claims up to €5,000, and the European Order for Payment (Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006) for uncontested debts. National rules add detail, such as higher interest rates or extra compensation, so check your country’s version. This check helps you set up your terms and invoices so you get paid on time, and know what to do when you don’t.

Use this free EU late payment check to see how quickly your clients must pay, what interest and compensation you can claim, and how to tighten your terms and invoices.