Verbraucherzentrale Berlin eV v Unimatic Vertriebs GmbH.
Date: 2018-08-07
27


According to the Court’s settled case-law, it follows from the need for a uniform application of EU law that, where a provision thereof makes no reference to the law of the Member States with regard to a particular concept, that concept must be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation throughout the European Union which will be arrived at by taking into account not only the wording of the provision in question but also its context and the objective pursued by the rules of which it forms part (judgment of 8 March 2018, DOCERAM, C‑395/16, EU:C:2018:172, paragraph 20 and the case-law cited).
43


In the light of the foregoing, in order to ascertain, in a given situation, whether a stand at a trade fair must be classified as ‘business premises’ within the meaning of Article 2(9) of the directive, regard must be had to the actual appearance of that stand in the eyes of the public and, more specifically, whether, in the eyes of the average consumer, it is presented as a place where the trader occupying it carries out his activities, including seasonal activities, on a usual basis, with the result that such a consumer may reasonably expect, by visiting it, to be solicited by a trader.
44


The perception of the average consumer, that is to say a reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant and circumspect consumer, is relevant in that regard (see, by analogy, judgments of 30 April 2014, Kásler and Káslerné Rábai, C‑26/13, EU:C:2014:282, paragraph 74; of 26 October 2016, Canal Digital Danmark, C‑611/14, EU:C:2016:800, paragraph 39, and of 20 September 2017, Andriciuc and Others, C‑186/16, EU:C:2017:703, paragraph 47).
45


In that context, it is for the national court to assess the appearance given by the stand in question to the average consumer, by taking into consideration all the factual circumstances surrounding the trader’s activity and, in particular, the information relayed on the premises of the trade fair itself. The duration of the trade fair concerned is not, in itself, conclusive in that regard, the EU legislature having intended, as is apparent from recital 22 of Directive 2011/83, that premises where the trader carries out his activity on a seasonal basis may constitute ‘business premises’ within the meaning of Article 2(9) of the directive.
46


It follows from all the foregoing considerations that the answer to the questions referred is that Article 2(9) of Directive 2011/83 must be interpreted as meaning that a stand, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, run by a trader at a trade fair, at which he carries out his activity for a few days each year, constitutes ‘business premises’ within the meaning of that provision if, in the light of all the factual circumstances surrounding that activity, in particular the appearance of the stand and the information relayed on the premises of the fair itself, a reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant and circumspect consumer could reasonably assume that the trader is carrying out his activity there and will solicit him in order to conclude a contract, which is for the national court to ascertain.