Italian payment practices

　　意大利的支付習慣

　　Unhealthy delays

　　有害的延誤

　　Late payments are an Italian specialityparticularlyin health care

　　延遲支付是意大利的特色尤其在醫藥保健領域

　　IN MEDICINE speed is of the essence.

　　在醫藥領域，速度就是核心。

　　If the ambulance arrives a minute late, the patientmay be dead.

　　如果救護車晚到一分鐘，病人就可能死亡了。

　　Italian paramedics are no doubt as swift as those in other countries.

　　意大利的護理人員無疑同其他國家一樣行動迅速。

　　But Italy s health-care authorities are shamefully slow when it comes to payingsuppliersmaking it difficult for them to survive.

　　但談到向供應商支付時，意大利的醫療機構就慢的令人羞恥了簡直讓供應商們難以生存。

　　We re still waiting to be paid for goods sold in 2009, says Stefano Rimondi, the managingdirector of Bellco, a maker of equipment for dialysis with revenues of more than 100m and aworkforce of 360 people.

　　我們還在等2009年出售的貨物的付款，Bellco公司的常務董事Stefano Rimondi說道。Bellco是一家滲透設備制造商，擁有360名員工，每年收入超過1億歐元。

　　We have one employee working full-time chasing up late payers, he adds.

　　他補充道，我們有一個員工全職專司向延遲付款人追討款項。

　　Bellco is not the only company to suffer.

　　Bellco不是唯一一家深受其害的公司。

　　The 250 other members ofAssobiomedica, a trade group for firms that supply medical equipment, are owed 5.6 billion;

　　提供醫療設備的貿易組織，意大利生物醫藥聯合會下屬的250家公司有未付款56億歐元;

　　those of Farmindustria, which represents 200 pharmaceutical firms, are waiting for 4 billion.

　　意大利制藥工業協會下屬的200家制藥公司則有未付款40億歐元。

　　The farther south you look, the longer the delays in payment.

　　你往南看的越遠，支付的延遲時間就越長。

　　The Friuli and Trentino-Alto Adige regions in north-eastern Italy and Valle d Aosta in thenorth-west settle bills after about three months.

　　在意大利東北部的Friuli 和Trentino-Alto Adige區域，以及在西北部的Valle d Aosta都在三個月后支付賬單。

　　The regions of Calabria and Molise pay on average after two years.

　　Calabria 和 Molise區的人平均兩年后才付賬。

　　The record is held by one Neapolitan health authority:

　　那不勒斯省中某市的衛生部門保持著相關記錄：

　　some of its suppliers have been waiting for more than four-and-a-half years.

　　他的一些供應商已經等了至少四年半了。

　　Small Italian firms that rely on the home market are hit particularly hard.

　　一些依賴家庭市場的意大利企業尤其損失嚴重。

　　Often they cannot get bank financing at reasonable interest rates.

　　他們通常不能以合理的利率從銀行貸款。

　　And long delays in payment create all kinds of tax and accounting headaches.

　　而長時間延誤付款將導致稅收和會計方面的一系列問題。

　　Suing late-payers doesn t help much.

　　起訴延遲付款者也沒有太大作用。

　　Courts are at least as slow as health-care authorities.

　　法院的速度至少和醫療機構一樣慢。

　　In five regions a law even blocks the use of courts to compel authorities to cough up.

　　甚至有一項法律在五個地區中禁止法院強制官員吐出資金。

　　Once we were able to recover about 5m of interest a year, but now we ve had to give up,says the executive of a large American drugmaker, which had started to take legal action in2007.

　　一家大型美國制藥公司在2007年采取法律行動以后說道：曾經我們可以收到一年大約500萬歐元的利息，但現在我們放棄了。

　　Pharmaceutical firms cannot simply stay clear of the worst offenders:

　　制藥公司不能簡單的遠離最極端的冒犯者們：

　　they are legally required to supply drugs even to notoriously slow authorities.

　　法律甚至要求這些為慢的臭名昭著的官員提供藥品。

　　Desperate measures are also unlikely to help.

　　令人絕望的法規同樣很難起到作用。

　　Starting a boycott of late-paying authorities could trigger an antitrust investigation.

　　啟動對延遲付款官員的聯合抵制將觸發反壟斷調查。

　　And paying sweeteners to move invoices to the top of the list can land you behind bars.

　　而通過賄賂使賬單排到列表最頂端的舉動將使你鋃鐺入獄。

　　Some suppliers are pinning their hopes on new European Union legislation which requireshealth-care authorities to settle bills within 60 days;

　　一些供應商寄希望于要求醫療機構在60天內付款的歐盟監管新條例;

　　it takes effect in March next year.

　　此條例將于明年三月份生效。

　　Yet Mr Rimondi would be shocked if things improved:

　　但如果情況真的有所改進的話，Rimondi先生會感到震驚，

　　Some clause will be dreamed up so that the directive can be dodged in Italy.

　　將有一些條款被設計出來，讓意大利逃過監管。

　　Italian payment practices

　　意大利的支付習慣

　　Unhealthy delays

　　有害的延誤

　　Late payments are an Italian specialityparticularlyin health care

　　延遲支付是意大利的特色尤其在醫藥保健領域

　　IN MEDICINE speed is of the essence.

　　在醫藥領域，速度就是核心。

　　If the ambulance arrives a minute late, the patientmay be dead.

　　如果救護車晚到一分鐘，病人就可能死亡了。

　　Italian paramedics are no doubt as swift as those in other countries.

　　意大利的護理人員無疑同其他國家一樣行動迅速。

　　But Italy s health-care authorities are shamefully slow when it comes to payingsuppliersmaking it difficult for them to survive.

　　但談到向供應商支付時，意大利的醫療機構就慢的令人羞恥了簡直讓供應商們難以生存。

　　We re still waiting to be paid for goods sold in 2009, says Stefano Rimondi, the managingdirector of Bellco, a maker of equipment for dialysis with revenues of more than 100m and aworkforce of 360 people.

　　我們還在等2009年出售的貨物的付款，Bellco公司的常務董事Stefano Rimondi說道。Bellco是一家滲透設備制造商，擁有360名員工，每年收入超過1億歐元。

　　We have one employee working full-time chasing up late payers, he adds.

　　他補充道，我們有一個員工全職專司向延遲付款人追討款項。

　　Bellco is not the only company to suffer.

　　Bellco不是唯一一家深受其害的公司。

　　The 250 other members ofAssobiomedica, a trade group for firms that supply medical equipment, are owed 5.6 billion;

　　提供醫療設備的貿易組織，意大利生物醫藥聯合會下屬的250家公司有未付款56億歐元;

　　those of Farmindustria, which represents 200 pharmaceutical firms, are waiting for 4 billion.

　　意大利制藥工業協會下屬的200家制藥公司則有未付款40億歐元。

　　The farther south you look, the longer the delays in payment.

　　你往南看的越遠，支付的延遲時間就越長。

　　The Friuli and Trentino-Alto Adige regions in north-eastern Italy and Valle d Aosta in thenorth-west settle bills after about three months.

　　在意大利東北部的Friuli 和Trentino-Alto Adige區域，以及在西北部的Valle d Aosta都在三個月后支付賬單。

　　The regions of Calabria and Molise pay on average after two years.

　　Calabria 和 Molise區的人平均兩年后才付賬。

　　The record is held by one Neapolitan health authority:

　　那不勒斯省中某市的衛生部門保持著相關記錄：

　　some of its suppliers have been waiting for more than four-and-a-half years.

　　他的一些供應商已經等了至少四年半了。

　　Small Italian firms that rely on the home market are hit particularly hard.

　　一些依賴家庭市場的意大利企業尤其損失嚴重。

　　Often they cannot get bank financing at reasonable interest rates.

　　他們通常不能以合理的利率從銀行貸款。

　　And long delays in payment create all kinds of tax and accounting headaches.

　　而長時間延誤付款將導致稅收和會計方面的一系列問題。

　　Suing late-payers doesn t help much.

　　起訴延遲付款者也沒有太大作用。

　　Courts are at least as slow as health-care authorities.

　　法院的速度至少和醫療機構一樣慢。

　　In five regions a law even blocks the use of courts to compel authorities to cough up.

　　甚至有一項法律在五個地區中禁止法院強制官員吐出資金。

　　Once we were able to recover about 5m of interest a year, but now we ve had to give up,says the executive of a large American drugmaker, which had started to take legal action in2007.

　　一家大型美國制藥公司在2007年采取法律行動以后說道：曾經我們可以收到一年大約500萬歐元的利息，但現在我們放棄了。

　　Pharmaceutical firms cannot simply stay clear of the worst offenders:

　　制藥公司不能簡單的遠離最極端的冒犯者們：

　　they are legally required to supply drugs even to notoriously slow authorities.

　　法律甚至要求這些為慢的臭名昭著的官員提供藥品。

　　Desperate measures are also unlikely to help.

　　令人絕望的法規同樣很難起到作用。

　　Starting a boycott of late-paying authorities could trigger an antitrust investigation.

　　啟動對延遲付款官員的聯合抵制將觸發反壟斷調查。

　　And paying sweeteners to move invoices to the top of the list can land you behind bars.

　　而通過賄賂使賬單排到列表最頂端的舉動將使你鋃鐺入獄。

　　Some suppliers are pinning their hopes on new European Union legislation which requireshealth-care authorities to settle bills within 60 days;

　　一些供應商寄希望于要求醫療機構在60天內付款的歐盟監管新條例;

　　it takes effect in March next year.

　　此條例將于明年三月份生效。

　　Yet Mr Rimondi would be shocked if things improved:

　　但如果情況真的有所改進的話，Rimondi先生會感到震驚，

　　Some clause will be dreamed up so that the directive can be dodged in Italy.

　　將有一些條款被設計出來，讓意大利逃過監管。