Directive 93/13/EEC And Mandatory Statutory Or Regulatory Provisions In Consumer Contracts

Summary

On 6 July 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU"), in delivering a ruling in the case of FS, WU vs. First Bank SA (Case C-593/22), considered the applicability of article 1(2) and the thirteenth recital of Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts ("Directive 93/13"). Such clause and recital state that clauses within a consumer contract which reflect a mandatory statutory or regulatory provision of national law are presumed not to contain unfair terms and thus such clauses are not subject to the provisions of Directive 93/13. The CJEU clarified that such exclusion applies if the clause within the consumer contract is substantively equivalent to, and has the same normative content as the mandatory statutory or regulatory provision of national law. It also held that it is irrelevant if the mandatory statutory or regulatory provision being referred to is actually quoted verbatim or referred to expressly in the consumer