On Monday 22 April, the European Commission presented a guidance document identifying the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union, through the end of May, of the main concepts and provisions of Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair contract terms in consumer contracts.
This non-binding notice covers: – the objectives and scope of the Directive (Section 1); – the principle of minimum harmonisation and the relationship with national law in general (Section 2); – the assessment of the transparency and (un)fairness of contract terms (Section 3); – the implications of the unfairness of contract terms for the rights and obligations of the parties (Section 4); – procedural requirements for the evaluation of contractual clauses (Section 5); – certain particularities of injunctions (Section 6).
Several judgments by the Court in the field of mortgage loans are among the European case law analysed by the Commission, in particular those written in a foreign language.
See the document: http://bit.ly/30S9BNl
Private sector recommendations. On the same day, 16 European organisations representing the interests of economic operators, such as BusinessEurope, Digital Europe, Eurochambres or SMEunited, presented a new tool to promote a better presentation of online information, including the general conditions that websites trading directly with consumers must meet.
Assuming that ‘the more consumers are informed of their rights, the more confident they are in buying products, especially online’, the recommendations list the many pieces of information required by retailers and explain how to develop model general terms and conditions of sale. This also applies to changes in the conditions of sale.
The tool sheet also presents a ‘path for the consumer’ offering practical examples of application, from presentation to final payment.
This private sector initiative aims to comply with the following directives: – consumer law; – unfair business practices; – e-commerce; – online dispute resolution. It will be reviewed in light of developments in the legal framework and European case law.
More information on the tool: http://bit.ly/2Szy338 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and Martin Molko)