The situation
Unpaid commercial invoices from customers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
A Dresden firm acts for a maker of hydraulic parts. It has 23 unpaid invoices: some from a customer in Plzeň dating back to 2022, the rest from a customer in Žilina from last year. The client wants one letter per customer, demanding payment with interest and recovery costs, without claiming anything that is already time-barred.
Each invoice raises the same three questions under its own law: which law governs the claim, when the limitation period started and whether anything stopped it, and what interest may be added. The work is getting each answer right per invoice, then writing a letter the debtor cannot pick apart.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- The contract’s law governs limitation
- Under the Rome I Regulation, the law that governs the contract also governs limitation. The CISG, which often governs such sales, does not deal with limitation, so the research must establish which national rule applies to each invoice.
- Germany: three years from the year-end
- The regular German limitation period is three years, starting at the end of the year in which the claim arose and the creditor knew the facts. Negotiations and court action suspend it, and an acknowledgment by the debtor starts it again.
- Czech and Slovak rules differ
- Czech and Slovak law each set their own general period, starting point and effect of an acknowledgment, and the research confirms them under the governing law. In all three systems a time-barred claim is not extinguished; the debtor can refuse to pay if it raises limitation.
- Interest and the €40
- Under the Late Payment Directive, a business creditor is entitled to statutory interest of at least the reference rate plus eight percentage points, and a fixed €40 for recovery costs per late invoice. National law sets the exact rate and can go further.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
German seller, Czech and Slovak buyers, sales of hydraulic parts. Order terms choose German law, but some older orders have no choice of law. For each invoice, which limitation rules apply, when did the period start, does a part-payment or an email asking for more time affect it, and what statutory interest can we claim?
You start with
Unpaid commercial invoices from customers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
- 01
Upload the invoices and order terms
Add the unpaid invoices, the order confirmations and any reminders sent. azta reads them and refers back to the terms it relied on for the governing law and due dates.
File upload· Pro - 02
Research limitation and interest per law
Ask about the period, its start and any suspension under each governing law, and the statutory interest. azta cites the civil and commercial codes and the Directive.
Cited research· Free - 03
Draft one letter per debtor
Ask for a demand letter listing the invoices still enforceable, the interest claimed and the €40 per invoice. Edit it in Canvas and translate it for the debtor.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro - 04
Export and send
Export each letter to Word, add the interest schedule from your own calculation and send it.
Word export· Pro You send
A demand letter per debtor on limitation, late-payment interest and recovery costs
What you get
A demand letter per debtor on limitation, late-payment interest and recovery costs
Demand letter · draft
Outstanding invoices: demand for payment
We act for our client in respect of the 14 invoices listed in the schedule, which remain unpaid despite the reminders of March and June. The amounts were due on the dates shown in the schedule.
Our client claims the principal amounts, statutory interest for late payment from each due date until payment, and a fixed sum of €40 for recovery costs for each invoice, as provided under the rules on late payment in commercial transactions.
Please pay the total shown within 14 days of this letter. If payment is not received, our client will bring proceedings without further notice. Your email of 12 May asking for more time is noted, and our client reserves all its rights.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
9 minutes a month
At €190 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 54
- Capacity at your rate
- €10,260
- More cross-border demand letters a quarter
- 4.5
- Return on Pro
- 31.7×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoSources azta searches here
- Gesetze im Internet
- e-Sbírka
- Slov-Lex
- EUR-Lex · Curia
What stays with you
- Calculating the interest and checking each due date against the records.
- Deciding which invoices to pursue and which to write off.
- The letter you sign and the decision to sue.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta calculate the interest?
- No. It establishes the rules and the rate basis, cited, and drafts the letter. You calculate the amounts in your own schedule.
- Can it tell whether an email interrupted the limitation period?
- It researches what counts as an acknowledgment or negotiation under the governing law, with the decisions. Whether the email meets that test is your judgement.
- Can the letter go out in Czech or Slovak?
- Yes. Select the letter in Canvas and ask azta to translate it. Check the translation before it goes out.
