§3.4.4 Possible unfairness of the price or remuneration

As mentioned above (242), under the minimum standard of the UCTD, the adequacy of the price or remuneration is to be assessed under Article 3(1) only if the contract terms determining the applicable price or remuneration are not drafted in plain intelligible language. For their assessment under Article 3(1), insofar as the relevant national law does not contain supplementary rules, for instance, market practices prevailing at the time when the contract was concluded, will have to be taken into account when comparing the consideration to be paid by the consumer and the value of a particular good or service (243). For instance, regarding the possible unfairness of an ordinary interest rate laid down in a loan agreement, the Court has stated (244) that ‘where the national court considers that a contractual term relating to the calculation of ordinary interest, […], is not in plain intelligible language, within the meaning of Article 4(2) of that directive, it is required to examine whether that term is unfair within the meaning of Article 3(1) of the directive. In the context of that examination, it is the duty of the referring court, inter alia, to compare the method of calculation of the rate of ordinary interest laid down in that term and the actual sum resulting from that rate with the methods of calculation generally used, the statutory interest rate and the interest rates applied on the market at the date of conclusion of the agreement at issue in the main proceedings for a loan of a comparable sum and term to those of the loan agreement under consideration;’ Taking into account also the ‘requirement of good faith’ in Article 3(1), the Commission considers that only fair and equitable market practices can be considered for this assessment.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07