The Multisectoral Platform against Late Payment (PMcM) has conveyed to the different political groups a package of five essential commitments against late payment so that they incorporate them into their programs ahead of the upcoming general elections.
Among the proposals is ensuring strict respect for payment deadlines, with effective penalties for serious or repeated breaches, as well as the automatic detection of late payment through the use of electronic invoicing, avoiding the provider having to directly denounce its client.
The organization headed by Antoni Cañete has also called for greater protection for those who suffer delays in payment collection, simplifying claim procedures and guaranteeing the collection of late-payment interest. At the same time, it demands that those who pay late not be benefited with public funds and is committed to increasing transparency, publishing actual payment deadlines and requiring the Administrations to comply with the same requirements they impose on the private sector.
The PMcM underscores the urgency of putting in place a sanctioning regime that turns legal payment limits into a real obligation. It recalls that, although Spain has had maximum deadlines set by law for years, the problem persists due to the lack of sufficiently deterrent consequences against serious and continued non-payments.
Likewise, the PMcM has announced that, before the elections are held, it will make known a "Timely Payment Traffic Light" to quickly visualize the level of commitment of each party to reducing delays in payments to suppliers.
This tool will make it possible to review the electoral promises one by one and classify them with a color system: green, if the measure is incorporated clearly, specifically and aligned with the Platform's demands; amber, if the commitment is partial, ambiguous or insufficiently developed; and red, when no measure is included or initiatives contrary to the demands of the PMcM are proposed.
The report will be released before the date at the ballot box so that companies, self-employed workers and citizens can verify what each political formation is really proposing in this area.
"We do not want generic declarations of good intentions. We want concrete commitments, written in the electoral programs and that can be evaluated. We are going to analyze what each party proposes and citizens will be able to clearly check who is committed to tackling late payment, who does so only partially and who does not propose any solution," the president of the PMcM, Antoni Cañete, has stated in a statement.