Key points:
- Spanish hauliers were paid after an average of 52 days in August 2026, the shortest period on record.
- The share of shippers and transport intermediaries paying late fell to 38%. In 2021, the average payment period was still 83 days.
- Bank transfers account for 69% of payments in Spanish road transport, while 25% are made through confirming.
- The EU proposal to reduce the standard maximum B2B payment term to 30 days remains stalled in the Council of the EU and is listed as “Blocked” in the European Parliament’s official schedule.
Spain records its shortest payment terms yet
The latest figures from Spain’s Observatory of Delays and Payments in Road Transport, run by Fenadismer together with Fundación Quijote para el Transporte, show that the average payment period for transport services fell to 52 days in August 2026. This was below the previous low of 53 days, recorded in April and June.
The latest improvement continues a trend that began after Spain introduced a separate system of administrative penalties for exceeding legal payment deadlines in road freight transport in late 2021.
The average payment period was still 83 days in 2021. By December 2025, it had dropped to 59 days, before falling by a further seven days in August 2026.
More than one in three customers still pays late
Despite the progress, payment discipline is far from perfect. Fenadismer’s August survey found that 38% of shippers and transport intermediaries still exceed Spain’s statutory maximum payment term of 60 days.
Among the businesses that pay late, 76% settle their invoices between 60 and 90 days. Another 6% take more than 120 days to pay.
The trend is nevertheless moving in the right direction. In December 2025, 48% of businesses exceeded the maximum payment term; in June 2026, the figure stood at 44%. August’s figure marks a further reduction in the number of customers breaching the rules.
Spain’s penalty system, introduced in October 2021, allows authorities to fine companies that take more than 60 days to pay for transport services, irrespective of any civil-law consequences arising from the delay.
Fenadismer attributes much of the improvement to the work of national and regional transport inspection services. The federation says enforcement must continue if timely payment is to become standard across the sector.
Why the EU payment reform is still on hold
Spain’s progress is part of a wider European debate about tackling late payments, which put particular pressure on small and medium-sized businesses.
In March 2024, the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) adopted its position on a proposal aimed at improving payment discipline among businesses and public institutions.
The proposal, presented by the European Commission in September 2023, called for stricter payment deadlines and additional safeguards for creditors.
It would have set a standard maximum payment period of 30 days for B2B transactions. The European Parliament’s position would also have allowed companies to agree to a term of up to 60 calendar days, provided that the arrangement was expressly included in the contract.
The proposal also included automatic interest on overdue invoices and compensation for debt-recovery costs ranging from €50 to €150 per transaction, depending on its value.
Two years on, the legislation has still not passed
After the parliamentary committee completed its work in March 2024, the proposal moved to the next stage of the legislative process. On 23 April 2024, the European Parliament adopted its position at first reading. That vote did not result in the final adoption of the regulation.
The process is now stalled in the Council of the EU. Member states disagree over issues including whether to impose a mandatory 30-day payment term and which legal form the new rules should take: a directly applicable regulation or a directive giving national governments more flexibility in implementation.
European business organisations BusinessEurope, EuroCommerce and Eurochambres have also opposed the proposal. In March 2025, they called on the European Commission to withdraw it, arguing that the planned measures would excessively restrict companies’ freedom to negotiate contracts.
The European Parliament’s official legislative schedule currently lists the proposal as “Blocked” because it remains stalled in the Council of the EU. The legislative procedures register shows that it is awaiting the Council’s position at first reading.
In practical terms, the proposed reduction of the standard maximum payment period to 30 days has not been adopted. No date has been agreed for the rules to take effect.
Spain shows why enforcement matters
Spain’s experience suggests that administrative penalties and consistent inspections can improve payment discipline. Fenadismer stresses, however, that more than one-third of customers still breach the applicable payment rules, despite the record-low average payment period.
Hauliers in other EU countries are still waiting to see whether the European reform will be approved. More than two years after the European Parliament adopted its position, the proposed rules intended to curb late payments and strengthen creditor protection remain under discussion in the Council of the EU.
