Order — ECLI:EU:C:2014:72
Date: 2014-01-31
Based on: Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (consolidated version 2008)
Subject matter: Consumer protection;Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: France

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal d’instance d’Orléans (France) lodged on 30 May 2013 – Facet SA, BNP Paribas Personal Finance SA v Saïda Bouchelaghem, Nathalie Cousin, Clémentine Benoni, Hili Aziz, Mohamed Zouhir, Jean Morel, Jalid Anissa, Marine Bourreau, Anthony Cartier, Patrick Rousselière, Karine Lenfant (Case C-298/13) Language of the case: French Referring court Tribunal d’instance d’Orléans Parties to the main proceedings Applicants: Facet SA, BNP Paribas Personal Finance SA Defendants: Saïda Bouchelaghem, Nathalie Cousin, Clémentine Benoni, Hili Aziz, Mohamed Zouhir, Jean Morel, Jalid Anissa, Marine Bourreau, Anthony Cartier, Patrick Rousselière, Karine Lenfant Questions referred Is Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers 1 to be interpreted as meaning that the court must of its own motion examine compliance with the provisions of the Directive and the national provisions resulting from it? Is Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers to be interpreted as meaning that the creditor is deemed to have performed its pre-contractual obligations under the national law transposing the Directive if the creditor produces to the court only the credit agreement drawn up pursuant to Article 10 of the Directive, to the exclusion of any document showing compliance with the creditor’s pre-contractual obligations? Is Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers to be interpreted as meaning that proof of the performance ... of the creditor’s obligations in relation to the consumer, as laid down by the national law transposing the Directive, is not established without the production by the creditor to the court of the documents showing the nature of the information given to the consumer and the information obtained to assess his creditworthiness, without there being any need for the consumer to bear the burden of proof of those omissions? Does the creditor’s failure to perform the pre-contractual obligations of information and checking the consumer’s creditworthiness, provided for by the national law derived from Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers, constitute a misleading commercial practice within the meaning of Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market? 2 Is Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers to be interpreted as meaning, where appropriate in the light of Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices, that non-compliance with the pre-contractual information obligations or the obligation to check the consumer’s creditworthiness as required by the national law transposing the Directive, does not permit the creditor to recover the outstanding amounts from the borrower whose default may arise from the creditor’s failure to meet its obligations? ____________ 1 Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers and repealing Council Directive 87/102/EEC (OJ 2008 L 133, p. 66). 2 Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘directive on commercial practices’) (OJ 2005 L 149, p. 22).