Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: link
    • Member State: Italy
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Other
    • Decision date: 28/10/2000
    • Court: Tribunale
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff:
    • Defendant:
    • Keywords:
  • Directive Articles
    Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 4, 1.
  • Headnote
    1. In this case, the Tribunale di Roma has admitted that the consumers’ association, Movimento Federativo Democratico, has the legal standing to obtain an injunction under the Law no. 281 of 30 July 1998 to prohibit the use of unfair terms in the standard insurance contracts suggested by ANIA to its members.
    The judge confirmed that the terms defining the contractual object or pertaining to the risks related to business activities may not be considered, in principle, unfair under the article 1469-ter of the Italian Civil Code.
  • Facts
    The consumer association Movimento Federativo Democratico sued before the Tribunale di Roma the ANIA., Associazione nazionale fra le imprese assicuratrici and the Nuova Tirrena S.p.A.
    The association has acted to obtain an injunction under the Law no.281 of 30 July 1998,
    to prohibit the use of unfair terms in the standard insurance contracts suggested by ANIA to its members.
  • Legal issue
    The decision concerns the interpretation of the Law no. 281 of 30 July 1998 (“Disciplina dei consumatori e degli utenti” in the Gazzetta Ufficiale 14 August 1998 no.189).
    Such Law has implemented in the Italian Law the Directive 98/27/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 May 1998 on injunctions for the protection of consumers’ interests. The Directive 98/27/EC establishes a common procedure to allow a qualified body from one country to seek an injunction in another. It aims to control traders that undertake activities in one Member State, which harm the collective interests of consumers in another Member State.
    The Law n. 281 of 30 July 1998 concerns the rights of consumers and users and inter alia provides that the consumers’associations, acting to protect the collective interests, may request from the judge: a) an injunction for acts and behaviours prejudicing the rights of consumers; b) the adoption of measures to correct and eliminate the damaging effects of infringements ascertain; and c) the order to publish the measure in one or more daily newspapers at a national or local level in order to contribute to the correction or elimination of the effects of said infringements.
    In this case, the judge admitted that the consumers’ association, Movimento Federativo Democratico, has standing to obtain an injunction under the Law no.281 of 30 July 1998, to prohibit the use of unfair terms in the standard insurance contracts suggested by ANIA to its members.
    In particular, the judge noted that the clauses defining the contractual object or pertaining to the risks related to business activities may not be considered unfair under the article 1469-ter of the Italian Civil Code.
  • Decision

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