Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 18 February 2016 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de Primera Instancia de Cartagena (Spain)) — Finanmadrid EFC SA v VA (*1), QE (*1), DG (*1), NZ (*1)

(Case C-49/14) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Directive 93/13/EEC - Unfair terms - Order for payment procedure - Enforcement proceedings - Powers of the national court responsible for enforcement to raise of its own motion the fact that the unfair term is invalid - Principle of res judicata - Principle of effectiveness - Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Judicial protection))

(2016/C 145/04)

Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Juzgado de Primera Instancia de Cartagena

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Finanmadrid EFC SA

Defendants: VA (*1), QE (*1), DG (*1), NZ (*1)

Operative part of the judgment

Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts precludes national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which does not permit the court ruling on the enforcement of an order for payment to assess of its own motion whether a term in a contract concluded between a seller or supplier and a consumer is unfair, when the authority hearing the application for an order for payment does not have the power to make such an assessment.

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(*1)  Information erased or replaced within the framework of protection of personal data and/or confidentiality.

(1)   OJ C 135, 5.5.2014.