Order of the Court (Ninth Chamber) of 3 May 2024

Consumer protectionUnfair terms in consumer contractsDirective 93/13Means to prevent the use of unfair termsMortgage credit agreementContract not capable of continuing in existence after removal of unfair termsCancellation of the agreementJudicial interpretation of national law making the legal effects arising from the finding of the invalidity of the contract subject to the condition precedent of the presentation of a declaration by the consumerDeclaration reflecting the consumer’s opposition to the term remaining effective, his or her awareness of the cancellation of the agreement because of the invalidity of the term, the consequences of that cancellation and his or her consent to it– Not permissible

(Council Directive 93/13, Arts 6(1) and 7(1))

(see paragraphs 32-35, operative part)

Operative part

Article 6(1) and Article 7(1) of Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts

must be interpreted as precluding, in the context of the cancellation in its entirety of a mortgage credit agreement concluded with a consumer by a banking institution on the ground that that agreement contains an unfair term without which it cannot continue in existence, a judicial interpretation of national law according to which the legal effects arising from the finding of the invalidity of that contract in its entirety are subject to the condition precedent that that consumer presents before a national court a declaration by which he or she declares, first, that he or she does not consent to that term remaining effective, second, that he or she is aware of (i) the fact that the invalidity of that term entails the cancellation of the mortgage credit agreement and (ii) the consequences of that cancellation, and, third, that he or she consents to the cancellation of that agreement.