Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the position regarding Directive 2011/7/EU which relates to combatting late payments in commercial transactions; the status of the consultation that took place on that directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4340/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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In order to protect European businesses, and in particular SMEs, against late payment, the Commission adopted Directive 2011/7/EU, known as the Late Payment Directive on 16 February, 2011. The purpose of the Directive is to combat late payment in commercial transactions, in order to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market, thereby fostering the competitiveness of undertakings and in particular of SMEs. The Directive came into force on 15th March, 2012 and must be transposed into Irish Law by 16th March, 2013.

Previously EU rules on late payments were defined in Directive 2000/35 enacted in Ireland by S.I. 388 of 2002 and this new legislation repeals and modernises these rules. On 22nd December 2012, I signed the Statutory Instrument transposing Directive 2011/7/EU of 16 February 2011 on Combating Late Payment in Commercial Transactions into Irish law. It has been assigned S.I. No “580 of 2012” by the Government Publications Office and laid before both of the Houses of the Oireachtas.

In respect of the consultation that took place on this Directive, my Department published a consultation document on the transposition into Irish Law of the Late Payments Directive (2011/7/EC) on 08 August 2012. The public consultation process was open for submissions over a six week period from: 09 August 2012 to 17 September 2012. During this period five submissions were received, all of which came from industry or business representative groups. My Department provided a summary of submissions received and a response to the issues raised to all stakeholders in November 2012. A number of the suggestions made during the consultation process cannot be addressed directly by the transposition of the Late Payments Directive as they relate to matters which fall outside the direct scope of the Directive. My Department will, however, address these through the work on Action Plan for Jobs 2013.