Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: Administrative case 14873/2012
    • Member State: Bulgaria
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Supreme court decision
    • Decision date: 05/06/2013
    • Court: Supreme Administrative Court
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff: Bulgarian Telecommunication Company AD
    • Defendant: Bulgarian Consumer Protection Commission
    • Keywords: age, distance contracting, elderly, mobile phone services, professional diligence, vulnerable consumer
  • Directive Articles
    Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Article 5, 2., (a) Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Article 5, 2., (b) Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Article 5, 3.
  • Headnote
    Consumers above the age of 75 are already beyond their active age and form a distinct and a clearly identifiable group. This group has its own needs, its own abilities for appreciation and awareness, and this is easily foreseeable by the trader. Therefore, the assessment of professional diligence that the trader is expected to exercise towards this particular group of consumers, has a different content as compared to the rest of the consumers, and the difference is mainly in the part related to due care. The bona fide and professionally competent trader is expected to account for the differences in the group of consumers who are no longer in active age and to reasonably adjust its commercial practice with them. Otherwise, its behavior would be contrary to the requirement of professional diligence.
  • Facts
    The plaintiff contacted by telephone a number of consumers above the age of 75 offering them to conclude distant contracts for renewal of their existing agreements for provision of telecommunication services. Subsequently numerous complaints were filed with the Consumer Protection Commission by the affected elderly consumers who claimed that they had not realized that the telephone conversations resulted in the conclusion of binding contracts and they had expected to receive the terms of the respective contract on paper.

    As a result of that the Consumer Protection Commission held that the plaintiff committed unfair commercial practice by concluding distant contracts by telephone with consumers who, in view of their age are likely to be less informed about the conditions of the proposed contracts and are not aware of the legal consequences of such distant contracts. The authority also found that due to their old age or health problems, the consumers most probably had failed to hear or to remember the specific commercial proposals of the plaintiff which had prevented them from making an informed decision or from exercising the right of withdrawal from the contract.

    The Order of the Consumer Protection Commission prohibiting the above unfair commercial practice was upheld by Sofia Administrative Court. The plaintiff appealed the first instance court judgment before the Supreme Administrative Court.
  • Legal issue
    The Supreme Administrative Court acknowledged the fact that all the elderly consumers who filed the complaints had failed to understand the meaning of the telephone conversations with representatives of the trader and had not perceived these conservations as commercial proposals with potential binding legal consequences. Accordingly, the court concluded that consumers above the age of 75 are already beyond their active age and form a distinct and a clearly identifiable group which could be particularly vulnerable to unfair commercial practices. This group has its own needs, its own abilities for appreciation and awareness, and this is easily foreseeable by the trader. Therefore, the assessment of professional diligence that the trader is expected to exercise towards this particular group of consumers, has a different content as compared to the rest of the consumers, and the difference is mainly in the part related to due care. The bona fide and professionally competent trader is expected to account for the differences in the group of consumers and to reasonably adjust its commercial practice with them. Otherwise, its behavior would be contrary to the requirement of professional diligence as one of the preconditions for prohibited unfair commercial practice.

    The court also found that the commercial practice used by the plaintiff was likely to materially distort the economic behaviour of the average member of that group because the elderly people were placed in a situation to make a decision within a very short period of time without being familiar with all proposed terms and conditions, without having sufficient time to consider and assess the proposal and without realizing that their oral confirmation would be legally binding.

    In view of the above the Supreme Administrative Court found that the commercial behavior of the trader qualified as unfair commercial practice within the meaning of the national law provision implementing Article 5, para 3 of Directive 2005/29/EC.
  • Decision

    Do consumers above the age of 75 form a clearly identifiable group of consumers who are particularly vulnerable to unfair commercial practices within the meaning of Article 5, para 3 of Directive 2005/29/EC?

    URL: http://www.sac.government.bg/court22.nsf/d038edcf49190344c2256b7600367606/d05a7d983530c6f4c2257b7f0026ba11?OpenDocument

    Full text: Full text

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  • Result
    The court upheld the first instance court’s judgment that rejected the plaintiff’s appeal.