International Invoice Payment Terms Database

To create our international payment terms database, Taulia has researched over 180 countries around the world through online legal texts, new articles and contact with government trade and industry departments.

The measures used to manage payment practices and address late commercial payments can range from industry specific initiatives to broad governmental legislation. Laws may include setting maximum payment terms, sanctions and fines, dispute resolution bodies or increasing transparency through public reporting requirements. The most common form of industry initiative in this area are payment codes, however other initiatives can include e-invoice or credit training initiatives.

Clearly this is a vast area of research that is constantly changing and so our glossary of international payment terms is broken down into three types of information searchable by country – laws, codes and notes. Our initial research has focused on laws that specifically limit maximum payment terms, such as the EU Late Payment Directive, along with well-advertised prompt payment codes. Where new laws or changes to laws are being proposed, we’ve included details as a note.

This database should provide the largest central repository of laws and codes governing standard payment terms that impact companies around the world, and our intention is to expand the research in future iterations.