Payment Terms Legislation In Czech Republic

Act no.179/2013 amending Act no. 513/1991 updated the Czechia Commercial Code to enact the commercial elements of the EU Late Payment Directive (see European Union for details). Additionally law no. 235/2004 on Value Added Tax, section 109, allows for the transfer of obligations to pay VAT from the creditor to the debtor in the case of late payment.

Act no. 395/2009 Coll. on Significant Market Power in Selling of Agricultural and Food Products and its Abuse, as well as amendments by Act No. 50/2016 set a maximum term of 30 days from invoice delivery for food and agricultural products. Breaches of this law can result in fines up to CZK 10 million, or 10% of net income. This applies to buyers or alliances where the turnover, controlling entity or combined alliance turnover is more than CZK 5 billion. The law is generally stricter than the UTP and protects against any abuse of significant power in the agricultural industry. (see European Union for details).

See European Union for the Directive on Unfair Trading Practices in the Food Supply Chain which was adopted on 30 April 2019.

The minimum late payment interest rate is the repo rate published by the Czech National Bank and set every six months, plus 8%.