BN-02
Consumer protection law in the EU
COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 93/13/EEC
of 5 April 1993
on unfair terms in consumer contracts
(…) “contracts should be drafted in plain, intelligible language, and the consumer should actually be given an opportunity to examine all the terms of the contract, and any doubts should be interpreted in his favour (…)
Member States should ensure that unfair terms are not included in contracts concluded with consumers by sellers or suppliers and, if nevertheless such terms are included, that they are not binding on the consumer, and should guarantee that the contract continues to bind the parties according to its terms if it is capable of continuing in existence without the unfair terms (…)
A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer (…)
A term shall always be regarded as not individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence its substance, particularly where it has been presented to the consumer in the form of a pre-formulated standard contract. (…)
Assessment of the unfair nature of the terms shall relate neither to the definition of the main subject matter of the contract nor to the adequacy of the price and remuneration, on the one hand, as against the goods or services supplied in exchange, on the other, provided that these terms are in plain intelligible language. (…)”
Judgment of the CJEU C-212/20: “(…) More specifically, the requirement that a contractual term be drafted in plain intelligible language means that, in the case of loan agreements, banking institutions must provide borrowers with sufficient information to enable them to make prudent and well-informed decisions. In particular, that requirement means that a term according to which the loan must be repaid in the same foreign currency as the currency in which it was taken out must be understood by the consumer not only on a formal and grammatical level, but also with regard to its specific scope, so that an average consumer who is reasonably well informed and reasonably observant and circumspect may not only be aware of the possibility of an increase or decrease in the value of the foreign currency to which the loan was indexed, but also be able to assess the potentially significant economic consequences of such a term for his financial obligations.”
It is also worth clarifying that an “average consumer” within the meaning of EU law is a person who can read and perform simple calculations necessary in everyday life.
I leave the comprehensive study to the specialists who will edit this page.
Above, I have included only my observations.