Request for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de lo Mercantil No 9 de Barcelona (Spain) lodged on 11 August 2014 — Jorge Sales Sinués v Caixabank, S.A.

(Case C-381/14)

Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Juzgado de lo Mercantil No 9 de Barcelona

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Jorge Sales Sinués

Defendant: Caixabank, S.A.

Questions referred

Given that the Spanish system provides in Article 43 of the LEC ¹ that, where an individual action is brought concurrently by a consumer, the effect is that that action must be stayed and treated as a preliminary issue pending final judgment in collective proceedings, and that the consumer is bound by the decision in those proceedings without having had the opportunity to put forward the appropriate pleas or adduce evidence with full equality of arms:

Can it be considered [that the Spanish legal system provides for] an effective means or mechanism pursuant to Article 7(1) of ? ²

To what extent does the effect of a stay of proceedings preclude a consumer from complaining that the unfair terms included in the contract concluded with him are void, and, therefore, infringe Article 7(1) of the directive?

Does the fact that a consumer is unable to dissociate himself from collective proceedings constitute an infringement of Article 7(3) of ?

Or, on the other hand, is the effect of a stay of proceedings provided for in Article 43 of the LEC compatible with on the grounds that the rights of consumers are fully safeguarded by a collective action, because the Spanish legal system provides for other equally effective procedural mechanisms for the protection of consumers’ rights and by the principle of legal certainty?

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¹ Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil (Spanish Code of Civil Procedure).

² Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts (OJ 1993 L 95, p. 29).