Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2013:532
Date: 2013-09-05
Language of the case: Spanish
Subject matter: Consumer protection;Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Spain

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 5 December 2013 Approximation of laws — Unfair terms in consumer contracts — Directive 93/13 — Means aimed at preventing the continued of unfair terms — Action seeking an injunction brought by a consumer protection association — National rules conferring territorial jurisdiction to hear the action on the court where the defendant is established or has its address — No remedy against a decision declining jurisdiction delivered at first instance — Lawfulness — Respect for the principles of equivalence and effectiveness (Council Directive 93/13) Directive 93/13 on unfair terms in consumer contracts and the principles of equivalence and effectiveness must be interpreted as not precluding national procedural rules under which actions for an injunction brought by consumer protection associations must be brought before the courts where the defendant is established or has its address and whereby no appeal lies against a decision declining territorial jurisdiction handed down by a court of first instance. In the absence of harmonised legal procedural means available to consumer protection associations to prevent the continued use of unfair terms both in the interests of both consumers and competitors, it is for the internal legal order of each Member State, under the principle of procedural autonomy, to establish such rules, provided however that they are not less favourable than those governing similar situations subject to domestic law (principle of equivalence) and that they do not make it impossible in practice or excessively difficult to exercise the rights conferred by EU law on consumer protection associations (principle of effectiveness). (see paras 30, 53, operative part)