RESTRICTING THE RIGHT OF SECOND APPEAL ON UNFAIR TERMS LAWSUITS. AN EUROPEAN MEASURE?

Abstract

In Romanian civil procedural law, since the regulation of unfair terms, there have been several changes regarding the remedy of second appeal in respect of claims based on the provisions of Law no. 193/2000 on unfair terms in contracts concluded between professionals and consumers. Without distinguishing between claims brought by natural persons or other bodies recognised by law as having standing in such disputes, the extraordinary remedy of second appeal is currently restricted to unfair terms. In the course of this paper we aim to identify whether this measure is in line with European law on unfair terms and whether the measure is appropriate at national level in relation to the aims pursued by the European and national legislator when enacting legislation protecting the consumer. Also, we will analyse from a teleological point of view the regulatory changes and we will also study the way in which other European countries legislate in this area. Thus, at national level, it is necessary to identify what the legislator had in mind when taking this measure, both with regard to consumers who are natural persons and with regard to the bodies to which the law grants legal standing in such cases. Internationally, we believe that the identification of the policies adopted on the matter will be serious grounds for validating or invalidating domestic policy. Moreover, in this way we will identify whether other European citizens have more, less or equal opportunities to remove unfair terms from the practices of sellers or suppliers.

Keywords

• second appeal
• procedural remedy
• unfair terms
• opportunity
• compliance