Is my unpaid invoice eligible for the RUD procedure?
In 2016, the "Recovery of Undisputed Debts" (RUD) procedure came into effect in Belgium. This procedure ensures that companies no longer have to collect their uncontested claims against another company through a court of law. You have an unpaid invoice and wish to collect it via the RUD procedure. In this article we inform you what conditions an unpaid invoice must meet in order to claim it via the RUD procedure.
It must be a business-to-business (B2B) invoice
Both the creditor and the debtor concerned are registered in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises. This procedure is therefore not valid for collections against individuals and the government. Are you registered as a company in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain or Austria? Then you can also use the RUD procedure. Here too, the debtor must have a Belgian company number and a branch in Belgium.
The invoice is undisputed
The invoice, or invoices that you have sent to your customer, are accepted by him. Your debtor therefore agrees with the invoice and has not protested about it. When the debtor starts contesting your invoice, we call this a disputed invoice (protested).
Note: If your customer has protested against a part of the invoice and you have accepted and corrected the protest via a credit note, the non-protested part can be considered to be an undisputed invoice.
The debtor has not been declared bankrupt or is not in a judicial reorganization
Your debtor must not have been declared bankrupt or be in a judicial organization. This judicial organization (before known as the law on the continuity of the company) means that your debtor is protected against creditors.
The invoice is not time-barred
In addition to a payment term, an invoice also has a time limit. In other words, if an invoice is not paid, the claim will only be valid for a certain time. This period differs per sector and varies between 6 months and 10 years. Once you submit an invoice to Unpaid, we automatically and immediately check whether the limitation period has been exceeded:
Do you have an unpaid invoice and do you have questions about the operation of Unpaid? Call +32 9 396 34 00 or let us know here when you want to be called.