Thursday 18th January 2024
Opinion in Case C-450/22 Caixabank and Others
(Consumer protection)
The Asociación de Usuarios de Bancos, Cajas de Ahorros y Seguros de España (Spanish Association of Users of Banks, Savings Banks and Insurance, ‘ADICAE’) brought a collective action for an injunction against 44 financial institutions operating in Spain. ADICAE sought an order to stop those institutions from using the general contractual condition in their variable mortgage loan agreements. This condition consists of limiting variable interest rates from falling below a certain threshold (the ‘floor clause’).
Moreover, ADICAE joined to the action to obtain an order for reimbursement of the payments made under that condition. ADICAE applied to add further defendants to its action on two occasions, raising the total number of defendants to 101.
The banks appealed to the Tribunal Supremo (Supreme Court) against the judgment of the Provincial Court de Madrid (Provincial Court, Madrid).
In its request for a preliminary ruling, the Supreme Court, as the referring court, raises two main issues. The first one relates to whether a collective action for an injunction is an appropriate procedural mechanism to carry out a review of the transparency of contractual clauses.
Moreover, it has doubts as to whether such a collective action for the review of transparency may be brought against all the financial establishments that make up the banking system of an entire country (over a hundred) where the sole common denominator among those institutions is the use of a similar clause in their mortgage contracts.
The second issue raised relates to the definition of the average consumer in circumstances in which there are differences among the numerous financial institutions involved in the litigation, the contractual models that have been used, the customers concerned and in which the terms concerned have been used over a long period of time.
Donnerstag, 18. Januar 2024
Schlussanträge der Generalanwältin am Gerichtshof in der Rechtssache C-450/22 Caixabank u. a. (Tranzparenzkontrolle bei Verbandsklagen)
Verbandsklage auf Unterlassung
Der Spanische Verband der Nutzer von Banken, Sparkassen und Versicherungen verklagte 101 in Spanien tätige Finanzinstitute. Es handelt sich hierbei genauer gesagt um eine Verbandsklage auf Unterlassung der Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingung, durch welche die Variabilität des Zinssatzes beschränkt wurde, die die beklagten Banken in ihren Verträgen über Hypothekendarlehen mit variablem Zinssatz verwendeten. Mit dieser Unterlassungsklage verband sie eine Klage auf Rückerstattung, um die Verurteilung zur Rückerstattung aller nach dieser Klausel erfolgten Zahlungen zu erwirken.
Das erstinstanzliche Gericht erklärte die Klage für zulässig und führte drei Aufrufe an betroffene Verbraucher durch, auf die 820 Personen reagierten, um die Anträge der Klageschrift zu unterstützen. Es gab der Klage – ausgenommen gegenüber drei Kreditinstituten – teilweise statt, und stellte fest, dass die beanstandeten Klauseln nichtig seien. Die beklagten Unternehmen wurden verurteilt, diese Klauseln aus den Verträgen zu entfernen und die intransparente Verwendung dieser Klauseln einzustellen.
Gegen dieses Urteil legten die beklagten Finanzinstitute bei einem zweitinstanzlichen Gericht Berufung ein. Dieses wies die Klagen mehrheitlich ab, und erläuterte, wie die Transparenzkontrolle im Rahmen von Verbandsklagen im Gegensatz zu der Kontrolle bei Individualklagen vorzunehmen ist.
Die Banken haben gegen das Urteil des zweitinstanzlichen Gerichts ein Rechtsmittel beim Obersten Gerichtshof Spaniens eingelegt. Dieser hat den EuGH hierzu um Vorabentscheidung ersucht.
Generalanwältin Medina legt heute ihre Schlussanträge vor.
We and use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your experience on our website. We may store and/or access information on a device and process personal data, such as your IP address and browsing data, for personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development. Additionally, we may utilize precise geolocation data and identification through device scanning.
Please note that your consent will be valid across all our subdomains. You can change or withdraw your consent at any time by clicking the “Consent Preferences” button at the bottom of your screen. We respect your choices and are committed to providing you with a transparent and secure browsing experience.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__stripe_mid | This cookie is set by Stripe payment gateway. This cookie is used to enable payment on the website without storing any patment information on a server. | |
__stripe_sid | This cookie is set by Stripe payment gateway. This cookie is used to enable payment on the website without storing any patment information on a server. | |
_abck | This cookie is used to detect and defend when a client attempt to replay a cookie.This cookie manages the interaction with online bots and takes the appropriate actions. | |
_wpfuuid | This cookie is used by the WPForms WordPress plugin. The cookie is used to allows the paid version of the plugin to connect entries by the same user and is used for some additional features like the Form Abandonment addon. | |
ASP.NET_SessionId | Issued by Microsoft's ASP.NET Application, this cookie stores session data during a user's website visit. | |
AWSALBCORS | This cookie is managed by Amazon Web Services and is used for load balancing. | |
bm_sz | This cookie is set by the provider Akamai Bot Manager. This cookie is used to manage the interaction with the online bots. It also helps in fraud preventions | |
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". | |
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". | |
cookielawinfo-checbox-others | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. | |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". | |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". | |
elementor | This cookie is used by the website's WordPress theme. It allows the website owner to implement or change the website's content in real-time. | |
JSESSIONID | Used by sites written in JSP. General purpose platform session cookies that are used to maintain users' state across page requests. | |
viewed_cookie_policy | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_ga | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. | |
_ga_4L7PKQPHHV | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. | |
_ga_T50H0MNN9J | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. | |
_gat_gtag_UA_12289088_5 | Set by Google to distinguish users. | |
_gcl_au | Provided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services. | |
_gid | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
test_cookie | The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_mcid | No description available. | |
_swa_u | This cookie is set by the provider Sitewit.com. This cookie is used for statistical report and analysis. | |
ak_bmsc | No description available. | |
AWSALB | AWSALB is a cookie generated by the Application load balancer in the Amazon Web Services. It works slightly different from AWSELB. | |
ec_store_chameleon_font | No description available. | |
FCCDCF | No description available. | |
issuem_lp | No description available. | |
lp_us_his | No description | |
m | No description available. |