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COMMISSION NOTICE Guidance on the interpretation and application of Council Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts · European Union

In this connection, the Court recalled that it is for the Court alone, in the light of the fundamental requirement of a general and uniform application of EU law, to decide upon the temporal limitations to be placed on the interpretation it lays down in respect of a rule of EU law (334). In general, the interpretation given by the Court of a rule of EU law must be applied by the national courts also to legal relationships arising and established before the Court's judgment since its interpretation establishes how the relevant rule must be, or ought to have been, understood and applied from the time of its entry into force (335). Therefore, the Court may limit the effect in time of its rulings only in ‘altogether exceptional cases’ in application of the general principle of legal certainty if two cumulative conditions are met: (i) the market participants concerned have acted in good faith and (ii) there is a risk of serious difficulties due to the ‘retroactive’ application of the Court's case law (336).

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