The Fraud Repression Agency (DGCCRF) carried out 138 sanction procedures against companies which did not respect payment deadlines with their suppliers, between January and the end of May, for a total of nearly 30 million euros in fines. and pre-fines, she has this Friday.
Thus, the car manufacturer Renault was fined 2 million euros, Ikea 1.86 million euros, Arcelor Mittal 1.5 million euros, Eurodisney 1.3 million euros and the bank HSBC Continental Europe of 1.27 million following checks “mainly carried out in 2023”, indicates the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF).
Payment delays “are detrimental to the competitiveness and profitability of companies” providing service providers to client companies, “by weakening their cash flow”, explains Fraud Repression, which checked the payment deadlines of 248 companies, including 4 public ones. . In 28% of cases, anomalies were noted. .
Majority of delays and getting longer
In total, 138 sanction procedures were therefore initiated, “including more than 14 million euros in fines and nearly 15.6 million euros in pre-fines”, specifies the DGCCRF.
Fraud Repression cites a payment deadline observatory which indicated in mid-June that it had noted a drop in inter-company payment deadlines in 2022 for companies of all sizes. However, large companies “mostly pay their suppliers late”, at 55%, “despite significant financial capacities”. “In addition, payment delays tended to lengthen in 2023, reaching 12.6 days late in the 4th quarter of 2023 compared to 11.7 a year earlier,” specifies the DGCCRF.
The Minister for Business, Olivia Grégoire, said in March that she wanted to strengthen sanctions against bad payers, regretting that “a late payment on a large invoice can jeopardize a company”. According to her, “the amount of this cash in nature amounts to 15 billion euros, it is colossal”.