Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: XI ZR 91/99
    • Member State: Germany
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Other
    • Decision date: 09/04/2002
    • Court: BGH (Supreme court)
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff:
    • Defendant:
    • Keywords:
  • Directive Articles
    Doorstep Selling Directive, Article 1, 1. Doorstep Selling Directive, Article 5
  • Headnote
    1. In keeping with the judgment of the ECJ of 13.12.2001 in the case of Heiniger (Case 481/99) § 5(2) of the Haustürwiderrufsgesetz (HwiG) (Doorstep Selling Withdrawal Act) is to be interpreted restrictively in conformity with the directive
    2. According to that provision, credit agreements, which according to § 5 (2) HWiG “fulfil the requirements of a contract according to [VerbKrG]” (Verbraucherkreditgesetz - Consumer Credit Act), are not to be regarded as such where the VerbrKrG does not give a right of withdrawal as far-reaching as the HWiG.
    3. This applies to all credit agreements, which are doorstep sales within the meaning of § 1(1) HWiG (old version), even where they do not fulfil the requirements of a doorstep sale within the meaning of the Doorstep Selling Directive 85/577/EEC.
  • Facts
    The claimants sought from the respondent bank rescission ab initio of a collateral loan agreement. They demanded the return of interest paid and costs incurred of 11,8443.81 DM plus interest, as well as assurance that no more rights accrued to the respondent under loan agreement. To finance the purchase price for a freehold apartment purchased in March 1993 the claimants entered a loan agreement for 150,000 DM dated 28.4./7.5.1993 with the respondent bank, secured with a charge over the property for the same value. No notification of the right of withdrawal within the meaning of the HWiG was made. By claim lodged in January 1998 the claimants withdrew their declaration to conclude the loan agreement pursuant to § 1 HWiG (in force until 30.9.2000). The claimants contended that a freelance estate agent, who was also engaged by the respondent, made numerous unsolicited calls at their home and persuaded them to buy the apartment and take the loan.
    In the preliminary instances the claim was dismissed. On appeal to the BGH (Bundesgerichtshof – Federal Supreme Court) the court made a preliminary reference to the ECJ, which was received on 13.12.2001 (Case 481/99 – Heininger). The claimant’s appeal was successful and led to repeal of the challenged decision and referral back to the Oberlangesgericht (court before which appeals on points of fact and law are submitted).
  • Legal issue
    Taking into account the binding preliminary reference decision of the ECJ in the Heininger case (judgment from 13.11.2001, Case 481/99) the BGH interpreted the relevant national provisions restrictively, so that the consumer, who has concluded a collateral loan agreement within the scope of application of the Doorstep Selling Directive, has a right of withdrawal corresponding to Art. 5 of the Directive. According to that provision credit agreements are not among those contracts which according to § 5 (2) HWiG “fulfil the requirements of a contract according to the VerbrKrG“ as the consumer credit act does not afford such a far reaching right of withdrawal as the HWiG.
    According to § 5(2) HWiG a subsidiary clause only applies when a transaction within the meaning of § 1(1) 1 HWiG (as it then applied) also fulfils the “requirements of a transaction according to the consumer credit act”. As it is not described in further detail, when exactly the aforementioned requirements as stated in § 5 HWiG exist, the norm is capable of interpretation. The wording could, according to a wide interpretation, be understood to mean that the VerbrKrG completely overrides the HWiG in respect of collateral loan agreements, if the relevant transaction falls within the scope of the VerbrKrG at all, because the VerbrKrG is the specific act. However, an interpretation is also possible whereby the HWiG is not completely overridden by § 5(2) HWiG, if a credit agreement only in part falls within the VerbrKrG or – yet wider – where this does not afford the consumer as effective a level of protection as the HWiG. With collateral loan agreements within the meaning of § 3(2) No. 2 VerbrKrG the consumer does not however have a right of withdrawal, thus the level of protection afforded by the VerbrKrG remains considerably lower than that intended by the HWiG. The BGH henceforth is of the view that the aim of consumer protection and the necessity of interpretation consistent with the Directive allow for an interpretation whereby § 1 HWiG as it then applied is only overridden by § 5 (2) HWiG if the VerbrKrG, which has priority application, offers a level of protection equally effective. The subsidiarity clause only applies, if in the concrete case the VerbrKrG also gives a right of withdrawal. Where the right of withdrawal – as here – is excluded according to § 3(2) No. 2 VerbrKrG or has already expired according to the rules of the VerbrKrG, § 1 HWiG as it then applied remains applicable.
    The required interpretation consistent with the directive of § 5(2) HWiG also covers the present case, even though the disputed doorstep selling situation only applied in relation to the preparatory phase of the loan agreement, not the actual conclusion itself. It is of course so that the loan agreement thereby fulfils the requirements of a doorstep sale according to the HWiG, however according to German law only and not the requirements of the Doorstep Selling Directive. This nevertheless does not justify, according to the BGH, a diverging interpretation. Interpretation consistent with the Directive also extends not only to such contracts, which admittedly do not directly fall within the scope of the directive, but which according to national law fulfil the requirements of a doorstep sale. A so-called “split interpretation”, according to which an interpretation of § 5(2) HWiG consistent with the Directive should be limited to circumstances which are within the scope of the Directive, contradicts the equal treatment of all different doorstep situations required by German law. It would dislodge the wording of § 1 HWiG as it then applied and run contrary to the aim of the norm. This allows the equal treatment of all declarations aimed at concluding a contract, which are made within the context of a doorstep situation itself or by reason of the influence in a doorstep situation. A “split interpretation” furthermore leads to considerable problems of applying the law, as it would be necessary to distinguish between doorstep sales according to the Doorstep Selling Directive and other doorstep sales on a case by case basis. In addition, it would require a considerable number of declarative pronouncements and the existence of a right of withdrawal would ultimately depend upon the sequence of events.
    IV. Comment
    § 5 (2) HWiG was initially integrated into § 312a BGB (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch – German Civil Code) essentially unchanged in the course of the modernisation of the law of obligations with effect from 1.1.2002. Following the Heininger Judgment of the ECJ of 9.12.2001 the BGB was once more amended by the OLG-Vertretungsänderungsgesetz (Act on Representation before Appellate Courts) which came into force on 1.8.2002. § 312a BGB was also changed thereby. In its new formulation § 312a BGB henceforth makes the exclusion of the right of withdrawal in doorstep sales dependent upon the consumer having a right of withdrawal or return “according to other provisions” (§§ 355, 356 BGB). Thus, it seeks to clarify that the priority of “other provisions” (such as consumer credit provisions) only apply to contracts initiated in doorstep situations when the right of withdrawal or return therein contained are in fact available to the consumer.
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