The European Commission responded to the observations formulated by the European Economic and Social Council Committee (CESE) regarding the new version of the Order tackling delayed payments which is going to be voted in the beginning of July. "The commissions share the Committee's point of view that short and compulsory payment deadlines to be applied to al public authorities on all levels. Additionally, taking into consideration the current climate, where the SMEs face serious problems with cash flow and restricted access to credits, public authorities should respect a maximum period of 30 days for payments towards SMEs", A communiqué sent by the Commission to the European Economic and Social Committee at the end of last week and cited by the National Council for SME from Romania.

The adoption of the change in the European Directive regarding delayed payments is about to happen. In December 17, 2009, the CESE Plenum approved the Notice on the Directive proposal of the European parliament and Council regarding the elimination of delayed payments for commercial transactions.

National Council for SME from Romania representative Ana Bontea was CESE rapporteur for this notice. According to her, the European Commission sent its reply to the CESE Notice last week. The punctual observations formulated by the Commission were quoted in a document elaborated by CNIPMMR.