Time of delivery (leveringstidspunkt)
Also known as delivery date, date of delivery
The time of delivery is the day the goods or services were delivered — and it is the starting point for both the complaint period and when the claim falls due.
- Establishes
- When you may invoice
- Starts
- The period for complaints
- Evidenced by
- A delivery note or receipt
In practice
Delivery is the point at which the seller’s side of the agreement has been performed. From there you may invoice, from there the customer’s period for complaining about what was delivered begins, and from there you generally count the earliest point at which the claim could have been demanded.
In goods trading the moment is usually easy to identify, and the delivery note evidences it. In services it is harder: is a consulting assignment delivered when the report is sent, or when it is approved? The answer belongs in the agreement, not in a discussion afterwards.
The time of delivery also decides whether an objection arrives in time. A customer who complains six months later stands in a weaker position than one who complained immediately — but only if it can be documented when delivery took place.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- Invoicing before delivery. The claim is then not due on the basis the invoice asserts, and the whole reminder process rests on shaky ground.
- Delivery is never signed for. Without a delivery note or receipt the timing is an assertion, and both the complaint period and the due date become a matter of argument.