The legal basis and aims of directive 2011/7/EU on combating late payment in commercial transactions

This paper identifies and analyses the causes of late payments, as well as the negative effects of late payments that led the EU institutions to counter this problem through the provisions of Directive 2011/7/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 on combating late payment in commercial transactions. The legal basis of the Directive is 2011/7/EU is being examined. Author delivers arguments on invalidity of the directive on the basis of the possible lack of competence of the EU institutions. Finally, the objectives of the Directive 2011/7/EU are defined, while they are issues of practical importance for the transposition of the directive into national law.