Statutory Commercial Interest

A statutory commercial interest is a legal rate of compensation that applies to a money claim if it is not paid on time. It is regulated in Clause 6:119a of the Dutch Civil Code (DCC). The Ministry of Justice and Security annually determines the percentage of this interest rate. This is different from collection costs which are calculated as a percentage of the outstanding claim. Check this out:credifin-nederland.nl

Parties can deviate from this statutory interest by means of an agreement, but only to the extent that the deviation does not lead to an unreasonably long payment term. The agreement can stipulate that the statutory interest is replaced by a contractual penalty. However, a creditor cannot in principle claim both a contractual penalty and the statutory commercial interest rate unless this was explicitly included in the agreement.

Interest Matters: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Statutory Commercial Interest

The purpose of statutory commercial interest is to provide a legally determined form of remuneration for the use of capital in business-to-business transactions between companies and between businesses and government institutions. This ensures that the payment obligations between trading parties are distributed more fairly. This can help improve cash flow, prevent bankruptcies and avoid disputes over late payments. In addition, it provides a useful tool for enforcing the terms of an agreement. In this way, statutory commercial interest helps to make it more difficult for traders to agree on payment terms that exceed 60 days. From 1 July 2023, the statutory interest rate is 2% (the official dealing rate plus 8%). The higher statutory interest rate makes it even more important that agreements are drawn up clearly and correctly.