Wettelijke handelsrente is the interest you can charge for late payment of a debt that is due to your business. It is the amount that is calculated by multiplying your debt by a percentage rate (either the Bank of England base rate or a rate set in your contract) and then adding that to the number of days the debt has been outstanding. You can use a statutory interest calculator to work out what you should be charging.
The statutory commercial interest can only be charged on debts that are due under contracts for the sale of goods or supply of services between businesses. It does not apply to contracts with companies that are not part of a group or government organizations of any size. In addition to statutory interest, you can also charge a fixed sum for the costs of recovering the debt. This sum is also set by late payment legislation.
Interest Rates Unveiled: Understanding the Nuances of Statutory Commercial Interest
In the Licorne case, the Advocate General questioned whether the loan at issue qualified as a commercial transaction under the Directive. He argued that the Directive does not exclude incidental transactions between undertakings and that it is therefore appropriate to consider whether such loans fall within its scope.
The Court of Appeal decided that the loan did not qualify as a commercial transaction and, therefore, the creditor was not entitled to suspend its payment obligations. In its judgment of 28 September 2018 (ECLI:NL: HR:2018:513) the Supreme Court annulled the decision of the Court of Appeal. However, it did not find that the debtor could have suspended its payment obligations in relation to the statutory interest payments.