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by Marco Sposini
Laywer, Milan Bar Association
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The Court of Justice on Articles 6(1) and 7(1) of Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts
25 January 2024
The Court of Justice of the European Union, by judgment ECLI:EU:C:2024:81, dated 25 January 2024, in Joined Cases C-810/21 to C-813/21 – in proceedings between, in Case C-810/21, Caixabank SA, formerly Bankia SA, on the one hand, and WE and XA, on the other, in Case C-811/21, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, on the one hand, and TB and UK, on the other, in Case C-812/21, Banco Santander SA, on the one hand, and OG, on the other, and, in Case C-813/21, OK and PI, on the one hand, and Banco Sabadell SA, on the other, concerning the consequences of the annulment of an unfair term contained in mortgage loan agreements concluded between those parties – ruled that:
1. Article 6(1) and Article 7(1) of Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts, read in the light of the principle of effectiveness, must be interpreted as precluding a judicial interpretation of national law according to which, following the annulment of an unfair contractual term making the consumer bear the charges for concluding a mortgage loan agreement, an action for restitution of those charges is subject to a limitation period of 10 years which starts to run from the moment that term exhausts its effects when the last payment of those charges is made, without it being considered relevant in that regard that that consumer is aware of the legal assessment of those facts. The compatibility of the detailed rules for the application of a limitation period with those provisions must be assessed in the light of those rules as a whole.
2.Directive 93/13 must be interpreted as precluding a judicial interpretation of national law according to which, in order to determine the starting point of the limitation period for the consumer’s action for restitution of sums unduly paid under an unfair contractual term, the existence of well established national case-law relating to the invalidity of similar terms may be regarded as establishing that the condition relating to the consumer concerned being aware of the unfair nature of that term and of the legal consequences thereof is satisfied.
The text is available here