Order of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 11 June 2015 —
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria
(Case C‑602/13) 1(1)
Reference for a preliminary ruling — Directive 93/13/EEC — Contractual relationship between a seller or a supplier and a consumer — Mortgage contract — Default interest clause — Early repayment clause — Mortgage enforcement proceedings — Moderation of the amount of interest — Powers of the national court)
1. Consumer protection — Unfair terms in consumer contracts — Directive 93/13 — Finding that a clause is unfair — Scope — Revision by the national court of the content of an unfair term — Not permissible — Substitution by the national court of an unfair term with a supplementary provision of national law — Lawfulness — Conditions (Council Directive 93/13, Recital 24 and Arts 6(1) and 7(1)) (see paras 33-38, 49)
2. Consumer protection — Unfair terms in consumer contracts — Directive 93/13 — Finding that a clause is unfair — Scope —Mortgage enforcement proceedings — National rules moderating default interest rates under mortgage contracts — Lawfulness — Conditions (Council Directive 93/13, Arts 3(1), 4(1), 6(1) and 7(1)) (see paras 40-42, 45, 46, operative part)
3. Consumer protection — Unfair terms in consumer contracts — Directive 93/13 — Unfair term within the meaning of Article 3 — Assessment of unfair nature by the national court — Criteria (Council Directive 93/13, Arts 3(1) and 4(1)) (see paras 43, 44, 51)
4. Consumer protection — Unfair terms in consumer contracts — Directive 93/13 — Finding that a clause is unfair — Scope — Obligation for the national court, of its own motion, to draw all the consequences which result from that finding — Contractual term not executed — No effect (Council Directive 93/13, Arts 3(1) and 7(1)) (see paras 52-54, operative part 2)
Operative part
1. | | Articles 6(1) and 7(1) of Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts must be interpreted as not precluding national provisions for moderating default interest under a mortgage contract, provided that those national provisions: |
– do not prejudice to the assessment by the national court hearing mortgage enforcement proceedings relating to that contract on the ‘unfairness’ of the default interest clause, and
– do not prevent that court setting aside that clause should it conclude that the latter clause is ‘unfair’ within the meaning of Article 3(1) of Directive 93/13.
2. | | Directive 93/13 must be interpreted as meaning that, where the national court has established the ‘unfairness’ within the meaning of Article 3(1) of Directive 93/13 of a clause in a contract between a consumer and a seller or a supplier, the fact that that clause has not been executed cannot, in itself, prevent the national court drawing the appropriate conclusions from the ‘unfair’ nature of that clause. |