The new decree on payment deadlines and default interest, concerning both government contracts and public procurements made by local authorities and public institutions, was adopted by the Governing Council in July 2016.
The main purpose of this decree is to clarify and simplify the procedure for assessing the services performed under procurement contracts, while reducing payment delays and simplifying the procedure for payment of default interest when delays are exceeded.
The main contributions of this reform are as follows:
- Default interest, which were previously limited to government contracts, will be extended to public procurements made by local authorities and institutions listed in the decree.
- Public contracts must be paid within a maximum of 60 days, 45 days of which, are for assessing the service performed and 15 for payment, beyond this delay, default interest will be applied.
- The new decree clarifies the role of authorising officers, project owners and service providers in the public procurement payment process and outlines the responsibilities of the different stakeholders involved in the payment chain.