The statutory interest rate (rentesats efter renteloven)
Also known as statutory rate, rate under the interest act, reference rate
The statutory rate under Renteloven is the Danish central bank's lending rate plus 8 percentage points, and it is set twice a year.
- Rate
- Reference rate + 8 percentage points
- Set on
- 1 January and 1 July
- Legal basis
- Renteloven § 5 (the Danish Interest Act)
In practice
Renteloven does not fix a number. It fixes a rule: the Danish central bank’s lending rate as it stood on 1 January or 1 July, plus eight percentage points. So the rate changes twice a year, and there is no single right answer to what the interest is — only to what it was in a given period.
That matters on old claims. A claim that has been outstanding for three years has passed through six rates. Apply the current one across the whole stretch and you get a figure the other side can take apart.
The parties may agree a different rate. Where nothing is agreed, the statutory one applies.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- One rate is used across the whole period. It is the most common error on old claims, and it does not hold up in the bailiff’s court.
- Assuming interest must be agreed to run. Where a due date was fixed in advance, statutory interest runs from that day regardless of what the terms of trade say.