Amendments to the Law on financial discipline and their implementation into practice

 

The Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, at its session held on __________ 2019 adopted the Law Amending and Supplementing the Law on financial discipline. The Law was published in the Official Gazette No. ____ / 2019 dated ______2019.

The main objective of the legislator in the adoption of the amendments and the supplements is to further comply the Law on the financial discipline with Directive 2011/7/EU on combating late payment in commercial transactions.

Reducing of the amount of compensation for delay in fulfilling the payment liability of the debtor is performed with the amendments and the supplements, from the current 3,000 denars to 2,400 denars. Namely, in the event of non-observance of the agreed time limit or legal deadline for fulfilment of the monetary liabilities arising from the realisation of the business transactions, the creditor is entitled to compensation in the amount of 2,400 denars, without prior warning and reminder to the debtor. By means of this standardisation it is determined that the reminder and admonition are not a condition for realization of the compensation for the delay in fulfilment of the monetary liability.

Furthermore, the Law Amending and Supplementing the Law on financial discipline determines the competence of the Ministry of Economy– the State Market Inspectorate on the implementation of the provisions of this Law by the economic operators from the private sector.

The provisions which refer to the grounds for implementation of supervision by the competent authorities (the Ministry of Finance – the Financial Inspection and the Ministry of Economy – the State Market Inspectorate), and the provisions on the amount of fines which can be imposed in case of misdemeanour proceedings remain the same and range from 1,000 to 10,000 euros.

For the purpose of timely fulfilment of monetary liabilities arising from the realisation of the business transactions, therewith obeying the provisions of the Law on financial discipline and avoiding of high fines, it is necessary, the business entities to record the revenues, the expenditures and the liabilities in business books continuously and timely. The well-timed records are the basis for conducting an analysis on financial performance, providing optimization of the liabilities and their planning.