Court of Justice (Fifth Chamber) 19 September 2018, in case C‑109/17 (Bankia SA v Juan Carlos Marí Merino, Juan Pérez Gavilán, María de la Concepción Marí Merino)

Unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices — Directive 2005/29/EC — Article 11 — Loan agreement secured by a mortgage — Mortgage enforcement proceedings — Revaluation of immovable property prior to its sale by auction — Validity of the enforceable instrument —Adequate and effective means to combat unfair commercial practices — National court prohibited from assessing the existence of unfair commercial practices — Impossibility of staying the mortgage enforcement proceedings — Articles 2 and 10 — Code of good conduct — Non-legally binding nature of that code

Article 11 of Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which prohibits the court hearing mortgage enforcement proceedings from reviewing, of its own motion or at the request of the parties, the validity of the enforceable instrument in light of the existence of unfair commercial practices and, in any event, prohibits the court having jurisdiction to rule on the substance regarding the existence of those practices from adopting any interim measures, such as staying the mortgage enforcement proceedings.

Article 11 of Directive 2005/29 must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which does not confer a legally binding nature on a code of conduct such as those referred to in Article 10 of that directive.

categoria:European Case Law