P. Argalias, EU Contract Law, 2025

Consumer protection policy is directly influenced by primary and secondary EU law. It is commonly accepted that the application of EU law has been combined, mainly, with the cross-border movement of workers, the border crossing of goods, the provision of services, the free movement of capital and payments, for the creation of an effective internal market. The creation of the internal market has evolved through the effective application of the Union freedoms and was based, at a first stage, on the principle of equal treatment, in the sense that cross-border situations should be treated by the Member States in a similar way to internal situations. The principle of equal treatment was subsequently enriched by the Member States’ need not to take measures which, although applied in a neutral manner, hinder the effective application of the Union freedoms and access to the market.

The connection of EU law with the cross-border movement was the reason Member States could maintain different arrangements in purely internal situations· however, in this way it was possible for some to place their citizens in a more unfavourable situation compared to citizens of other Member States. The harmonization process of internal situations is related to the Judgements of the Court of the EU, which interpret EU legislative acts and contribute to consumer protection, case-law that must be taken into account by national courts when resolving legal disputes in which the consumer is one of the contracting parties.

This specific contribution was scientifically inspired by the legal issues raised in European (EU) consumer contract law, a policy area of particular interest, because it combines legislative acts of full and minimum harmonization. The scientific issue of this contribution is related to the influence of the EU legislation and case-law of the CJEU on the Member States and on the national judge by investigating the legal arsenal provided to the national judge when resolving disputes and forming his judicial reasoning under criteria and interpretative guidelines arising from EU legislation and the Judgements of the CJEU.

The first chapter of the contribution examines the evolution of policy of consumer protection, the contribution of the Charter of Fundamental Rights to this policy and the protection of consumers as an overriding reason of public interest. The second chapter examines issues related to unfair terms in contracts concluded between traders and consumers, rules on commercial guarantees and as regards consumers’ rights in different types of contracts. The third chapter analyzes the mechanisms regarding the protection of consumers from unfair commercial practices of businesses. Finally, conclusions are drawn in order to answer the scientific issue we have raised.