Z. sp. z o.o. v A. S.A.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2023:775
• Date: 12 October 2023
• Docket Number: C-326/22
• Celex Number: 62022CJ0326
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)

Provisional text

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Tenth Chamber)

12 October 2023 (*)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling – Consumer protection – Credit agreements for consumers – Directive 2008/48/EC – Article 16(1) – Contractual rights and obligations – Early repayment – Reduction in the total cost of the credit for consumers – Loss of a copy of the agreement – Right to obtain a duplicate of the agreement from the creditor)

In Case C‑326/22,

REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Sąd Rejonowy dla m.st. Warszawy w Warszawie (District Court, Warsaw, Poland), made by decision of 18 March 2022, received at the Court on 13 May 2022, in the proceedings

Z. sp. z o.o.

v

A. S.A.,

THE COURT (Tenth Chamber),

composed of Z. Csehi (Rapporteur), President of the Chamber, I. Jarukaitis and D. Gratsias, Judges,

Advocate General: J. Kokott,

Registrar: M. Siekierzyńska, Administrator,

having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 19 April 2023,

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:

– Z. sp. z o.o., by M. Plichta, A. Tomaszewska, radcowie prawni, and O. Wojciechowski,

– A. S.A., by P. Bieżuński, radca prawny, and K. Staszel, adwokat,

– the Polish Government, by B. Majczyna, M. Kozak and S. Żyrek, acting as Agents,

– the European Commission, by G. Goddin and M. Owsiany-Hornung, acting as Agents,

having decided, after hearing the Advocate General, to proceed to judgment without an Opinion,

gives the following

Judgment

1 This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 16(1) of Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers and repealing Council Directive 87/102/EEC (OJ 2008 L 133, p. 66), read in the light of the principle of effectiveness.

2 The request has been made in proceedings between Z. sp. z o.o., a Polish company, and A. S.A., a banking institution (‘the bank’), concerning a request to obtain documents and information for the purpose of recovering a debt, of which Z. is the assignee, corresponding to the amount owed by the bank by virtue of the reduction in the total cost of the credit due to the early repayment of that credit.

Legal context

European Union law

3 Recital 39 of Directive 2008/48 states:

‘The consumer should have the right to discharge his obligations before the date agreed in the credit agreement. …’

4 Article 3 of that directive, entitled ‘Definitions’, is worded as follows:

‘For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) “consumer” means a natural person who, in transactions covered by this Directive, is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business or profession;

…

(g) “total cost of the credit to the consumer” means all the costs, including interest, commissions, taxes and any other kind of fees which the consumer is required to pay in connection with the credit agreement and which are known to the creditor, except for notarial costs; costs in respect of ancillary services relating to the credit agreement, in particular insurance premiums, are also included if, in addition, the conclusion of a service contract is compulsory in order to obtain the credit or to obtain it on the terms and conditions marketed;

…

(m) “durable medium” means any instrument which enables the consumer to store information addressed personally to him in a way accessible for future reference for a period of time adequate for the purposes of the information and which allows the unchanged reproduction of the information stored;

…’

5 Article 10 of that directive, entitled ‘Information to be included in credit agreements’, provides, in paragraph 1 thereof:

‘Credit agreements shall be drawn up on paper or on another durable medium.

All the contracting parties shall receive a copy of the credit agreement. This Article shall be without prejudice to any national rules regarding the validity of the conclusion of credit agreements which are in conformity with Community law.’

6 Article 16 of that directive, entitled ‘Early repayment’, provides, in paragraph 1 thereof:

‘The consumer shall be entitled at any time to discharge fully or partially his obligations under a credit agreement. In such cases, he shall be entitled to a reduction in the total cost of the credit, such reduction consisting of the interest and the costs for the remaining duration of the contract.’

Polish law

7 The ustawa o kredycie konsumenckim (Law on Consumer Credit) of 12 May 2011 (Dz. U. of 2011, No 126, item 715), in the version applicable to the dispute in the main proceedings (‘the Law on Consumer Credit’), transposed Directive 2008/48 into Polish law.

8 Article 49 of the Law on Consumer Credit provides:

‘1. In the case of full repayment of the credit before the date indicated in the agreement, the total cost of the credit is to be reduced by the costs relating to the remaining duration of the contract, even if the consumer had borne those costs before the repayment.

2. In the case of partial repayment of the credit before the date indicated in the agreement, paragraph 1 applies mutatis mutandis.’

The dispute in the main proceedings and the question referred for a preliminary ruling

9 Between 14 November 2015 and 24 July 2018, the bank concluded 15 credit agreements for consumers (‘the credit agreements at issue’) with six individuals (‘the consumers’). The consumers repaid their credits before the maturity date indicated in the credit agreements at issue and subsequently transferred their claims, corresponding to the amounts owed by the bank under Article 49(1) and (2) of the Law on Consumer Credit, to Z. following that early repayment.

10 However, the consumers no longer had their copies...