1.2.5. Application of the UCTD to traders established in third countries

Whether the UCTD is applicable to a contract concluded between a consumer resident in an EU Member State and a non-EU and non-EEA trader or professional (105) is determined in principle by Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 (106) (Rome I). Article 6(1) and (2) of the Rome I Regulation provides that: Therefore, whenever a professional (i.e. a trader or ‘seller or supplier’) from a third country carries on an activity in a Member State or directs its activities to consumers who have their habitual place of residence in a Member State, those consumers will benefit from the protection under the UCTD and the consumer protection rules of their Member State. This applies even where the parties choose the law of the third country as the applicable law. However, Article 5 of the Rome I Regulation contains particular rules for contracts of carriage. In addition, Article 6(2) UCTD provides: This provision may grant the consumer extra protection since it applies in every case where the law of a third country is chosen but where there is a close connection with a Member State. The conditions of its application are thus broader than those of Article 6 of the Rome I Regulation. Furthermore, the Court has held (107) that, under Article 3(1) UCTD, a contract term whereby a contract concluded with a consumer is to be governed by the law of the Member State in which the seller or supplier is established is unfair if it does not unambiguously specify that consumers can still rely on the mandatory consumer protection rules of the country of their usual residence under Article 6(2) of the Rome I Regulation. Without this specification, it may mislead the consumer by giving him/her the wrong impression that only the chosen law applies to the contract. The same logic must apply where the law of a non-EU Member State is chosen by way of a contract term within the meaning of Article 3(1) UCTD (108).

← sec_1_2_4__para__7 · All articles · sec_1_2_5__para →

Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.