Contractual Disclosure and Remedies under the Unfair Contract Terms Directive

The EC Directive on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts (93/13/EEC),1 privately referred to as the ‘Klauselrichtlinie' in the German literature,2 is not just another directive. Given the varying and uncertain panorama of European private law, it might have been expected to play a central role from the very beginning. However, contrary to these expectations, its centrality has been above all qualitative or virtual, because the introduction of the directive into the legal orders of the Member States has, to date, had little impact on judicial decisions.3