The judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) confirms the current line of jurisprudence applied by Polish courts, believes the Polish Bank Association (ZBP). The Tribunal ruled that the court supervising the enforcement proceedings may ex officio examine a potentially unfair provision in the loan agreement.
“The CJEU judgment confirms the current line of jurisprudence used by Polish courts, ordering the court to examine ex officio the potential abusiveness of contractual clauses in court proceedings, also when issuing a payment order,” we read in the ZBP press release.
As the Association emphasizes, the Court also noted that national provisions must provide the court with the opportunity to make an ex officio assessment and the consumer with the opportunity to invoke the abusive nature of the clauses at every stage of the examination proceedings, while Polish procedural provisions and court practice developed on the basis of previous CJEU judgments provide the consumer with and the court such guarantees.
According to the Polish Bank Association, the CJEU indicates that the assessment of the effects of entering abusive clauses in the register is the responsibility of national courts and national law.
“Polish law has not and does not provide for the automatic recognition of analogous clauses used by one entrepreneur as abusive simply because they were entered into the register for another entrepreneur. The above is confirmed in the resolution of seven judges of the Supreme Court of November 20, 2015 (III CZP). 17/15). This entrepreneur whose clause has not been entered in the register has the right to present arguments that the clauses he uses are not abusive,” the Polish Bank Association emphasized in its position.
The Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the court supervising enforcement proceedings may ex officio examine a potentially unfair provision in a loan agreement.
The case dealt with by the Court concerned a consumer from Poland who concluded two loan agreements indexed to the Swiss franc. Due to the failure to make payments, Getin Noble Bank terminated these agreements and obtained two payment orders against the debtor in electronic payment proceedings. The loan agreements were not presented to the court and were not subject to its review.
