Case C‑226/12

Constructora Principado SA

v

José Ignacio Menéndez Álvarez

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Audiencia Provincial de Oviedo)

‛Directive 93/13/EEC — Consumer contracts — Contract for the purchase of immovable property — Unfair terms — Criteria for assessment’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 16 January 2014

Consumer protection — Unfair terms in consumer contracts — Directive 93/13 — Unfair term under Article 3 — Assessment of unfair nature by the national court — Existence of a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations arising under the contract — Criteria for assessment

(Council Directive 93/13, Art. 3(1))

Article 3(1) of Directive 93/13 on unfair terms in consumer contracts must be interpreted as meaning that:

— the existence of a ‘significant imbalance’ does not necessarily require that the costs charged to the consumer by a contractual term have, as regards that consumer, a significant economic impact having regard to the value of the transaction in question, but can result solely from a sufficiently serious impairment of the legal situation in which that consumer, as a party to the contract, is placed by reason of the relevant national provisions, whether this be in the form of a restriction of the rights which, in accordance with those provisions, he enjoys under that contract, or a constraint on the exercise of those rights, or the imposition on him of an additional obligation not envisaged by the national rules;

— in assessing whether there is a significant imbalance, it is for the referring court to take into account the nature of the goods or services for which the contract was concluded by referring to all the circumstances attending the conclusion of that contract, as well as all the other terms of contract.

(see para. 30, operative part)

Case C‑226/12

Constructora Principado SA

v

José Ignacio Menéndez Álvarez

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Audiencia Provincial de Oviedo)

‛Directive 93/13/EEC — Consumer contracts — Contract for the purchase of immovable property — Unfair terms — Criteria for assessment’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 16 January 2014

Consumer protection — Unfair terms in consumer contracts — Directive 93/13 — Unfair term under Article 3 — Assessment of unfair nature by the national court — Existence of a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations arising under the contract — Criteria for assessment

(Council Directive 93/13, Art. 3(1))

Article 3(1) of Directive 93/13 on unfair terms in consumer contracts must be interpreted as meaning that:

— the existence of a ‘significant imbalance’ does not necessarily require that the costs charged to the consumer by a contractual term have, as regards that consumer, a significant economic impact having regard to the value of the transaction in question, but can result solely from a sufficiently serious impairment of the legal situation in which that consumer, as a party to the contract, is placed by reason of the relevant national provisions, whether this be in the form of a restriction of the rights which, in accordance with those provisions, he enjoys under that contract, or a constraint on the exercise of those rights, or the imposition on him of an additional obligation not envisaged by the national rules;

— in assessing whether there is a significant imbalance, it is for the referring court to take into account the nature of the goods or services for which the contract was concluded by referring to all the circumstances attending the conclusion of that contract, as well as all the other terms of contract.

(see para. 30, operative part)