DOI: http://doi.org/10.47743/jss-2021-67-2-5
Abstract: While establishing the exclusive territorial competency, antagonistically regulated as compared to the case of the alternative territorial competency, the provisions of article 121 of the Civil Procedure Code favour the court from the consumer’s domicile, for the judgement of the professionals’ requests against consumers, the applicability of these legal provisions being non‑depending of the contractual or extra‑contractual nature of the substantial litigious motifs. Situated at the antipode of the permissive legal solution applicable in cases in which the consumer occupies the plaintiff’s procedural position in the requests on contractual performance, nullity of contractual provisions, annulment of agreements, judicial termination of contracts, unilateral termination of a business to consumer contract or tort actions aiming at the establishing of the professional’s liability for the prejudice caused to consumers, as resulting from the provisions of article 113, par. (1), pt. 8 Civ. Pr. Code, in the hypotheses in which, on the contrary, the professional introduces a judicial request as plaintiff against the consumer as defendant, the legal texts do not provide for an option to select the court’s territorial competency, since the cited legal provisions postulate an exclusive territorial competency of the court from the consumer’s domicile. The derogatory contractual provisions in the field of territorial competency may be seen as valid as long as they are kept in the perimeter of the legal limits on temporality and substantiality, from the perspective of the origins of consumer’s right to compensation of damages, as resulting from the provisions of the second phrase of article 121 Civ. Pr. Code, corroborated with the provisions of article 126, par. (2) Civ. Pr. Code, while placing the derogatory contractual terms related to courts’ territorial competency under the exigences of being proposed to consumers only „after the generating of the consumer’s right to compensation”.
Keywords: consumer; domicile; territorial competence; unusual clauses; standard terms
References
Barenghi A., Diritto dei consumatori, Wolters Kluwer / CEDAM / UTET Giuridica, 2020
Bercea L., Contractul de adeziune. O analiză structurală şi funcţională a standardizării contractuale, Revista Română de Drept Privat nr. 4/2020, pp. 367‑391
Buy F., Lamoureux M., Mestre J., Roda J.‑C. (coord.), Les principales clauses des contrats d’affaires, 2e édition, L.G.D.J, Paris, 2018
Cărămidaru D. A., Standardizarea contractuală ca decizie de afaceri. Rigori economice şi limite cognitive la intersecţia dreptului societar cu dreptul contractelor, Revista Română de Drept Privat nr. 3/2019, pp. 236‑266
Ciobanu V. M., Nicolae M. (coord.), Noul Cod de procedură civilă comentat şi adnotat, ediţia a II‑a revizuită şi adăugită, Ed. Universul Juridic, Bucureşti, 2016
Coyle J. F., Effron R., Forum Selection Clauses, Non‑Signatories, and Personal Jurisdiction, Notre Dame Law Review, 2021, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3846436
van Duin J., Article 47 EUCFR and Civil Courts: The Case of Arbitration Clauses in Consumer Contracts (the Netherlands vs Spain), 2018, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3186531
de Duve E., Jafferali Rafaël, Les clauses abusives B2B après la loi du 4 avril 2019. Comparaison avec le B2C et implications pratiques, Anthemis, Paris, 2020
Farneti M., La vessatorietà delle clausole „principali” nei contratti del consumatore, CEDAM, 2009
Fejos A., Behind the frosty glass: the EU’s Unfair Contract Terms Directive as a tool for justice in the modern financial sector, BEUC ‑ The European Consumer Organisation, 2019
Goicovici J., Nulitatea clauzelor compromisorii semnate de consumatori, Revista Română de Arbitraj nr. 2/2016, pp. 6‑14
Hay P., Forum Selection Clauses—Procedural Tools or Contractual Obligations? Conceptualization and Remedies in American and German Law, Emory International Law Review, Vol. 35, No. 1/2021
Józon M., Unfair contract terms law in Europe in times of crisis: Substantive justice lost in the paradise of proceduralisation of contract fairness, Journal of European Consumer and Market Law, Vol. 6, nr. 4/2017, pp. 157‑166
Laazouzi M. (coord.), Les clauses attributives de compétence internationale. De la prévisibilité au désordre, Éditions Panthéon‑Assas, Paris, 2021
L. S. Mullenix, „For the Defense: 28 Shades of EU Class Actions”, în A. Uzelac, S. Voet, (coord.), Class Actions in Europe: Holy Grail or a Wrong Trail? (Springer, 2021)
Pandey V., Choice of Law and Jurisdiction in E‑Commerce Contract: A Comparative Study, 2019
Péglion‑Zika C.‑M., La notion de clause abusive. Étude de droit de la consommation, L.G.D.J, Paris, 2018
Pellier J.‑D., Droit de la consommation, Dalloz, Paris, 2021
Picod N., Picod Y., Droit de la consommation, Sirey, Paris, 2020
Piedelièvre S., Droit de la consommation, 3e édition, Economica, Paris, 2020
Popa I. F., „Tirania” clauzelor neuzuale, Revista Română de Drept Privat nr. 1/2016, pp. 135‑154
Sârbu E., Pot fi neuzuale clauzele standard specifice unui sector de business?, Revista Română de Drept al Afacerilor, nr. 1/2019, pp. 45‑65
Tiţa‑Nicolescu G., Contractul de adeziune şi contractul încheiat cu consumatorii. Clauzele externe şi clauzele neuzuale. Clauzele nescrise, Revista Universul Juridic nr. 2/2018, pp. 23‑32
Comisia Europeană, „Orientări privind interpretarea şi aplicarea Directivei 93/13/CEE a Consiliului privind clauzele abuzive în contractele încheiate cu consumatorii” (2019/C 323/04), publicate în Jurnalul Oficial al Uniunii Europene din 27.09.2019