Public Authorities must ensure that they comply with periods for
payment not exceeding 30 or 60 days in accordance with the
Directive 2011/7/EU (on combating late payment in commercial
transactions).
On the 28 January 2020, in Commission v Italy (C-122/18), the
court held that, by not having ensured and by continuing not to
ensure, that its public authorities avoid exceeding the periods of
30 to 60 calendar days applicable to the payment of their
commercial debts, the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its
obligations under Directive 2011/7/EU (on combating late payment in
commercial transactions) (the "Directive") and in
particular Article 4 of that Directive.
Following a series of complaints from Italian economic operators
and associations of economic operators, the Commission sent the
Italian Republic ("Italy") a letter of formal notice
alleging that Italy had failed to fulfil its obligations inter alia
under Article 4 of the Directive. Italy submitted,
