On 19 February, the Senate proposed a law “aimed at reducing payment delays in order to prevent business failures”, which will be debated in the National Assembly from 10 April.
Among the measures proposed by the Senate, which seeks to rebalance the relationship between small businesses and large groups, one is designed to increase penalties for companies that pay their suppliers after the statutory deadlines.
Article 1 of the bill thus provides that the maximum administrative fine for a company in breach of payment‑term regulations will now be the higher of the following two amounts: (i) two million euros or (ii) 1% of worldwide net turnover (excluding taxes) for the last closed financial year.
The strengthening of the sanction regime has in fact been ongoing over the past 15 years:
- Prior to 2014, the applicable sanction was a criminal fine of up to 75,000 euros for a company.
- The “Hamon” Act of 17 March 2014 overhauled this framework by converting the criminal fine into an administrative fine of up to 375,000 euros for a company (at the same time, the powers of the Ministry of the Economy were strengthened in this area).
- The “Sapin II” Act of 9 December 2016 increased the maximum administrative fine to 2 million euros.
The law proposed put forward by the Senate follows this line, showing that both the objective pursued and the chosen method remain central to the legislator.
Among the other measures proposed by the Senate, the following are particularly noteworthy:
- extending from two to three years the repeat‑offence period (during which a new breach may result in the applicable fine being doubled);
- piloting a public fund that could pay certain small and medium‑sized enterprises that are parties to public contracts and are victims of late payment; and
- prohibiting creditors from waiving late‑payment penalties.
The rules governing payment terms are undeniably strict, both in how they are framed and in how they are enforced. Indeed, in the first two months of 2026 alone, companies have already been fined several million euros for late payment.
The sustained intensity of inspections carried out by the DGCCRF – particularly targeting large companies – clearly calls for the implementation of robust compliance practices to mitigate the risks associated with the payment‑terms regime.