§3.1.8 Additional language requirements

Under Article 6(7) Member States may impose language requirements regarding the contractual information in off-premises/distance contracts (65). If this regulatory choice has been exercised, the relevant requirements, for example, to provide the information in the official language of the Member State concerned would apply to cross-border traders, subject to the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (66) on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I Regulation). Its Article 6 provides that, if the trader carries out its activities in the country of the consumer’s habitual residence or if it directs such activities to that country or to several countries including that country, the law applicable to the contract is that of the country in which the consumer is habitually resident. If the parties have chosen a different law, that choice cannot deprive the consumer of the protection afforded by the mandatory provisions of the consumer’s country of residence. Therefore, also in this situation, if the trader directs its activity to consumers in a Member State that has imposed language requirements under Article 6(7) of the CRD, the trader has to provide consumers with contractual information in the language required by that Member State, if that language obligation is considered as mandatory ‘contractual obligation’ in accordance with the national law. The concept of ‘directing’ one’s commercial or professional activities to the country of the consumer was addressed by the CJEU in joined cases C-585/08 and C-144/09 Peter Pammer and Hotel Alpenhof GmbH. This judgment sets out a number of criteria for establishing whether a website is ‘directed’ at a specific Member State, such as the use of different languages or currencies on the website (67). It should be noted that this regulatory option under the CRD is complementary to sector- and product-specific Union laws, which enable Member States to set language requirements concerning the warnings or instructions regarding, for example, toys (68) or radio equipment (69). In addition, Directive (EU) 2019/771 of the European Parliament and of the Council (70) enables setting language requirements regarding commercial guarantees for goods.

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