Sodna praksa

  • Podatki o zadevi
    • Nacionalna ID: High Court, Judgement I Ip 877/2020
    • Država članica: Slovenija
    • Splošno ime:N/A
    • Vrsta odločbe: Sodna odločba v pritožbenem postopku
    • Datum odločbe: 15/12/2020
    • Sodišče: Višje sodišče v Mariboru
    • Zadeva:
    • Tožnik:
    • Toženec:
    • Ključne besede: unfair terms, imbalance between the rights of the parties, nullity
  • Členi direktive
    Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 3 Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 3, 1. Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 4 Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 4, 2. Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 5 Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 5 Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 6 Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 6, 1. Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 7 Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 8 Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 8
  • Uvodna opomba

    ECLI:SI:VSMB:2020:I.IP.877.2020


    The assessment of an unfair contractual condition, which is null and void under Slovenian law (Article 23 of the Consumer Protection Act - hereinafter ZVPot), refers to the assessment of whether the notarial deed in question has the effect (meaning) of an enforceable title. The Court of Second Instance allows the executive court to assess inadmissible (unfair) conditions in a directly enforceable notarial deed that are not in accordance with (domestic) public order (coercive regulations). Furthermore, the contractual condition on the pegging of a long-term consumer housing loan to a foreign currency, the Swiss franc (CHF), is unfair in the notarial deed in question because it does not contain an appropriate currency risk limit. Moreover, currency risk must be comprehensively explained by the bank as a professional, which also includes an explanation of the intensity or extent of the risk, and not only that the risk exists.

  • Dejstva

    The litigants entered into a mortgaged credit agreement (housing loan) in the form of a directly enforceable notarial deed. The credit obligation with a currency clause was pegged to the Swiss franc (CHF) and the debtors were obliged to pay it in local currency (EUR) at the reference exchange rate of the European Central Bank on the day of payment. The debtors argued that the credit liabilities were due to the possibility of a drastic increase in the credit obligation and thus the speculative nature of the loan, which it would not have concluded if it had been aware of the stated risk, which was not properly presented to them by the bank. Due to non-payment, the bank, as a creditor, filed a motion for enforcement on the basis of a directly enforceable notarial deed of the mortgage credit agreement. The executive court thus allowed the execution of the credit agreement, concluded in the form of a directly enforceable notarial deed.

  • Pravna zadeva
    • Can the executive court rule on unfair terms in the notarial deed in accordance with Directive 93/13/EEC and therefore postpone the proposed enforcement?
    • What is considered to be an unfair contract term in a notarial deed under Article 4(2) of Directive 93/13?
    • To what extent should the obligation to inform of the bank be interpreted in order for the balance between the rights of the parties to be established?
  • Odločba

    The Court of Second Instance has developed a new, more relaxed approach to understanding the principle of formal legality (regarding attachment to an enforceable title). The latter allows the enforcement court to assess unfair contractual conditions (in a directly enforceable notarial deed) with (domestic) public order (compulsory regulations). The prohibition of unfair terms is one of the provisions of public policy, i.e., an area that is outside the autonomy of the parties. The clarified position on mandatory judicial control of inadmissible procedural disposition is especially important in unequal relations – such as a consumer-bank relation. In these relations, the intervention of a third (authority) is necessary in order to equalise power and thus only act freely (positive freedom - freedom by actively helping the weaker). It must be borne in mind that the consumer does not have the bargaining power to refuse that consent by direct enforceability and to ensure effective judicial protection ex officio at the stage of obtaining an enforceable title.

    The concept of minimum harmonisation means Member States have a wide margin of discretion. The Slovenian legislator enforced it by not implementing into the Slovenian legal system the restriction on the assessment of unfair terms, which constitute the main contractual obligation, only to those terms which are unclear (Article 4(2) of Directive 93/13). The Slovenian legislator not only improved consumer protection by assessing clear contractual terms of the main obligation, but also defined in Articles 23 and 24 of the ZVPot broader, additional criteria for assessing unfair terms, as they derive from Article 3 (1) of Directive 93/13, which facilitate the assessment of inadmissibility. In assessing unfair terms, the emphasis is on the responsibility and (self) limitation of banks to create appropriate choices, and not on the responsibility of consumers to assume unlimited or inappropriately limited risk, which is not expected in the banking space when lending.

    If the bank has included in the credit agreement an element that completely changes its basic nature and purpose, the warning about this element must be significantly more extensive and in-depth than is the case with the usual elements that the consumer regularly counts on. Therefore, it is not enough just to be aware of the possibility of increase and decrease, but the bank must explicitly warn the consumer that the change in the price of the loan is unlimited (explicit warning of the unlimited risk). This means that the change can also be significantly detrimental to the consumer, even to the extent that the risk can be unmanageable for him/her. Furthermore, it is irrelevant for the assessment of unfairness whether and to what extent the currency risk has actually materialised since the conclusion of the contract. For the assessment, it is decisive that a currency clause which is not adequately restricted is inadmissible contractual content.

    Celotno besedilo: Celotno besedilo

  • Povezane zadeve

    Zadetki niso na voljo

  • Pravna literatura

    Zadetki niso na voljo

  • Zadetek

    The debtor's objection is upheld, the decision on enforcement I 1211/2018 of 7 September 2018 is annulled and the proposal for enforcement is rejected. The creditor is obliged to reimburse the debtors for EUR 110.00 of opposition costs within 8 days from the decision, with statutory default interest after the expiry of this period until payment. The creditor is obliged to reimburse the debtors EUR 250.00 of the appeal costs within 8 days from the decision, with statutory default interest after the expiry of this period until payment.