Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: 1/2012. (VI. 21.) PK vélemény (Civil College Opinion)
    • Member State: Hungary
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Other
    • Decision date: 21/06/2012
    • Court: Curia (Supreme Court)
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff: N/A
    • Defendant: N/A
    • Keywords: conformity with the contract, consumer rights, general discussion
  • Directive Articles
    Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 2, 1. Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 2, 3.
  • Headnote
    (1) The obligor is liable for lack of conformity not only if the service does not comply with the requirements set out in applicable laws, but also if the service does not comply with the requirements prescribed by specific quality standards pertaining to the service in question, or if the obligor does not fulfil the ancillary obligations related to the service.

    (2) The obligee is not required to examine the service at the time of concluding the contract. However, if the obligee had knowledge of the deficiency or defect of the service at the time of concluding the contract, or he should have known such defects due to the nature of the service or to the circumstances of the conclusion of the contract, no lack of conformity may be determined on the obligor's part. Therefore, the quality and characteristics of the service that could have been reasonably expected by the obligee may be proven by the obligor.

    (3) The rights arising out of lack of conformity are defined in a two-stage system. In this system, the obligee may exercise five different rights: demand repair or replacement [i.e. first stage], demand the payment of the replacement costs or discount, or rescinding the contract [i.e. second stage]. The possibility to exercise the rights set out in the second stage generally does not require the obligee to first exercise the rights set out in the first stage unsuccessfully.

    (4) The proportionality criteria set out with respect to the rights defined in the first stage must also be examined with respect to the rights set out in the second stage, and also at the time of choosing between rights belonging to different stages.

    (5) The obligee may also request a discount simultaneously with demanding repair, if the difference between the value of the service and the price thereof can be only be balanced this way.

    (6) If the obligee rescinds the contract, the services mutually performed may only be reimbursed mutually and simultaneously. Thus, the obligee may not exercise his right of rescission if he is not willing to give the goods back. However, the obligee may lawfully exercise the right of rescission if due to the lack of conformity or to any circumstances which had arisen in the obligor's sphere of interest, the obligee cannot, or may only give the goods back with a significantly diminished value.
  • Facts
    Civil College Opinions are issued by the Curia (Supreme Court) in order to ensure the unified interpretation and application of laws. They are not related to specific court cases, but are summaries of the practice of different courts related to a specific field of law. Courts are required to follow the findings set out in Civil College Opinions. The most important findings of the 1/2012. (VI. 21.) Civil College Opinion relevant to Directive 1999/44/EC are described in the headnote.
  • Legal issue
    N/A
  • Decision

    The 1/2012. (VI. 21.) Civil College Opinion examines the most important aspects of lack of conformity.

    URL: N/A

    Full text: Full text

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