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Guides
To Trading Safely in the New Europe
A
series of reports has been launched to help British exporters
protect themselves from bad debts whilst doing business with three
of the EU's newest members, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
Atradius,
a leading credit insurance and credit management specialist, says
the Eastern European countries offer great trade potential for
UK businesses. But Atradius warns that if UK companies do not
understand local credit procedures, they could end up out of pocket
exporting to the EU accession countries.
So Atradius
has published detailed Country Reports on the Czech Republic,
Poland and Hungary providing important intelligence such as the
country credit rating and economic outlook, recommended payment
options and advice on how to reduce the risk of a bad debt.
Atradius says
there are significant differences in business procedures that
UK companies should bear in mind. For example:
- In the
Czech Republic recovering a debt in court can take almost a
third
longer than the rest of Europe - 300 days compared with an average
of 229
in the EU
- Insolvency
takes even longer in the Czech Republic - more than nine years
compared with an average of less than two years elsewhere in
Europe
- In Poland
collection letters or dunning letters are not always effective
- a collection
agency will be more successful in recovering a debt
- If a debt
dispute goes to court in Poland, it can be expensive and
lengthy - cases take on average 1,000 days, almost five times
longer than
normal
- In Hungary
collection reminders are more effective if signed by a local
lawyer - debtors can be charged interest of 7% over the bank
base rate
- Insolvency
legislation in Hungary suffers from a lack of debtor control
-
in 95% of insolvency cases there are not enough assets to satisfy
creditors
Chris Davies,
Atradius Senior Group Economist, says: "The EU accession
countries offer some of the biggest and most lucrative trading
opportunities for UK businesses. But just because they are now
members of the EU it does not mean that doing business there is
the same as trading with a UK customer.
"There
are different laws and business procedures, and the legal system
is often inefficient. If UK companies do not check out the partner
they are trading with and don't understand local laws, they could
end up waiting longer to be paid or might end up not getting paid
at all."
The new overviews are the latest in a series of Country Reports
published by Atradius. Also newly published are country overviews
on Spain and the Netherlands, which join previous reports on export
markets including France, Germany and the US.
Each Country
Report features useful websites for additional information, such
as each territory's central bank and national statistics office,
as well as English translations of key credit management terms
for each of the countries covered.
For more information
about Atradius's products and services and to download The Country
Reports visit www.atradius.co.uk
or call 0800 21 21 31
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