Cross-border Debt Recovery Blog
by Marco Sposini
Laywer, Milan Bar Association
Worldwide debt recovery news
The Court of Justice on Articles 3(1), 4(1), 6(1) and 7(1) of Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts
9 November 2023
The Court of Justice of the European Union, by judgment ECLI:EU:C:2023:845, dated 9 November 2023, in Case C-598/21 – in proceedings between SP and CI, on the one hand, and Všeobecná úverová banka a.s., a banking institution, on the other, concerning the suspension of the extrajudicial enforcement of the charge on immovable property, constituted by their home, which secures the credit agreement concluded between those parties – ruled that Article 3(1), Article 4(1), Article 6(1) and Article 7(1) of Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts, read in the light of Articles 7 and 38 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation under which the judicial review of the unfairness of an acceleration clause contained in a consumer credit agreement does not take account of the proportionality of the option given to the seller or supplier to exercise his or her right under that clause, in the light of criteria relating, in particular, to the extent of the consumer’s failure to fulfil his contractual obligations, such as the amount of the instalments which have not been paid in relation to the total amount of the credit and the duration of the contract, and to the possibility that the implementation of that clause may result in the seller or supplier being able to recover the sums due under that clause by selling, without any legal process, the consumer’s family home.
The text is available here