Luxembourg, 04/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 4 October, the Court of Justice considered that, under EU law, consumers must be protected when buying on credit, even when the terms of the credit do not specify the article to be financed. This was the answer that the EU Court of Justice gave to the Tribunal de Saintes in France, where action had been initiated by Mr and Mrs Rampion, who were seeking cancellation of a credit contract taken out to finance the purchase of windows that proved faulty upon delivery.
The financing company, Franfinance, had refused to cancel the credit contract, saying that the contract did not specify the purchase of windows. Regarding the consumer's right of appeal against the lender, the Court considers that Directive 87/102/EEC on consumer credit presupposes the existence of such a right but does not provide for the right to be subject to the condition that the offer of credit should mention the good or the service financed, as such a condition is not one of the conditions on the exhaustive list of five conditions set out under Article 11 of the directive. Furthermore, Article 14 of the same text provides for member states to ensure that provisions they adopt for applying the directive should not be distorted by any specific contract forms. The Court therefore considers that the articles of the directive mentioned are opposed to the consumer's right of appeal against the lender being subject to the condition that the credit contract should mention the good or the service for which credit is sought. The Tribunal de Saintes should therefore rule in favour of Mr and Mrs Rampion as consumer protection can apply with regard to the credit contract, even when the details of the purchase under litigation are not stipulated. (cd)