Unfair terms in consumer contracts

Unfair terms in consumer contracts Abstract This master thesis deals with the unfair terms in contracts concluded with consumers. Firstly, the main notions associated with the topic of unfair terms are described, especially the notion of consumer as it is a crucial term for the purpose of this thesis and notions related to it such as entrepreneur, or seller of goods and supplier of services, and consumer contract. Further it deals with the key EU legislation in the context of unfair terms, which is mainly the Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts. The principle of minimum harmonisation on which this Directive is based upon is also explained. Moreover, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which is indeed rich, considering the length of time period the Directive has already been in force, and has often undergone major developments, is one of the main focus points. In the light of the case law it aims to explain which terms are considered to be unfair, and which aspects are essential to that assessment. These include, for example, the concept of inadequacy and transparency, significant imbalance of rights and obligations or fairness. It explains how these concepts are interpreted and what are the consequences of such unfair terms, in particular..