Case C‑330/16

Piotr Zarski

v

Andrzej Stadnicki

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Sąd Okręgowy w Warszawie)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Combating late payments in commercial transactions — Directive 2011/7/EU — Commercial lease contracts of indefinite duration — Late rent payments — Contracts concluded before the period for transposing that directive had expired — National rules — Exclusion of such contracts from the temporal scope of that directive)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Ninth Chamber) 1 June 2017

Approximation of laws — Combating late payments in commercial transactions — Directive 2011/7 — Commercial lease contracts of indefinite duration concluded before the period for transposing that directive had expired — Late rent payments which occurred after that directive had been transposed — National rules excluding such contracts from the temporal scope of that directive — Lawfulness

(European Parliament and Council Directives 2000/35, Art. 6(3) and 2011/7, Art. 12(4))

Article 12(4) of Directive 2011/7/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 on combating late payment in commercial transactions must be interpreted as meaning that the Member States may exclude from the scope of that directive late payments in the performance of a contract concluded before 16 March 2013, even where those late payments occur after that date.

Thus, as regards the wording of Article 12(4) of Directive 2011/7, it must be noted that the EU legislature uses the term ‘contracts concluded’ and not the term ‘commercial transactions’, which is used in other provision of that directive. The examination of the wording of that provision therefore leads to the conclusion that, by using the term ‘contracts concluded’, the EU legislature intended to allow Member States to exclude from the scope of Directive 2011/7 contractual relationships concluded before 16 March 2013, in their entirety, including the effects of those contractual relationships which arise after that date.

It follows that, where a Member State has made use of the power granted to it under Article 12(4) of Directive 2011/7, contracts concluded before 16 March 2013 continue — subject to Article 6(3)(b) of Directive 2000/35 — to be governed by Directive 2000/35, including as regards their future effects, notwithstanding the fact that that directive is, in principle, repealed as from that date. In this case, Directive 2011/7 cannot apply to the effects of such contracts which occur as from 16 March 2013, since those effects cannot be subject to both Directive 2000/35 and Directive 2011/7.

It follows from the foregoing that the claims relating to payments due after 16 March 2013 cannot fall within the scope of Directive 2011/7 where the contract, pursuant to which those payments are due, was concluded before that date and the Member State concerned has made use of the power granted to it under Article 12(4) of Directive 2011/7.

(see paras 27, 29, 32-34, operative part)