argomento: News del mese - Diritto Internazionale e Comunitario

Articoli Correlati: credit agreement - protection - terms

On 9 July 2020, with judgment in joined cases C 698/18 and C 699/18, the European Court of Justice affirmed the legitimacy of the national legislation which, while providing for the imprescriptible nature of the action aimed at ascertaining the nullity of an unfair clause contained in a contract stipulated between a professional and a consumer, the action aimed at enforcing the restorative effects of this assessment is subject to a limitation period. The term, however, must not be less favorable than that relating to similar domestic appeals nor must it make the exercise of the rights conferred by the Union legal order practically impossible or excessively difficult.
On the other hand, Directive 93/13/EEC and the principles of equivalence, effectiveness and legal certainty do not allow for a judicial interpretation of national legislation according to which the action for the recovery of sums unduly paid pursuant to a clause is subject to a three-year limitation period starting from the date of the full performance of that contract, if it is assumed that, on that date, the consumer should have been aware of the unfairness of the clause or if this period begins to run only starting from the judicial ascertainment of the cause of such actions. The sentence therefore rejects this sort of "short prescription" which would prevent the consumer from having effective protection.