14.9.2020

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 304/7

(Case C-213/20)

(2020/C 304/09)

Language of the case: Polish

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: G.W., E.S.

Defendant: A. Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń Życie S.A.

Questions referred

1.Is Article 36(1) of Directive 2002/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 concerning life assurance, (1) in conjunction with point 12 of Annex III(A) thereto, to be interpreted as meaning that the obligation to provide the information indicated therein also covers the assured person if he is not at the same time the policyholder and he acts as a person acceding, as a consumer, to a unit-linked group endowment and life assurance contract, concluded between the assurance undertaking and the undertaking which is the policyholder, and as the actual investor in respect of the monies paid by way of the assurance premium?

2.If the first question is answered in the affirmative, is Article 36(1) of Directive 2002/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 concerning life assurance, in conjunction with points 11 and 12 of Annex III(A) thereto, to be interpreted as meaning that, in the context of a legal relationship such as that set out in the first question, the obligation to provide information on the characteristics of the capital assets that are associated with the unit-linked fund also means that the consumer, the assured person, must be informed in a comprehensive and comprehensible manner of all the risks, and their kind and scale, associated with investment in a unit-linked asset (such as structured bonds or derivatives), or is it, for the purposes of the provision cited, sufficient to provide him with just basic information on the principal kinds of risk associated with investing monies by means of a unit-linked fund?

3.Is Article 36(1) of Directive 2002/83/EC, in conjunction with points 11 and 12 of Annex III(A) thereto, to be interpreted as meaning that, in the context of a legal relationship such as that described in the first and second questions, a consumer acceding to a life assurance contract as an assured person must be informed about all investment risks and associated terms and conditions about which the issuer of the assets (structured bonds or derivatives) making up the unit-linked fund informed the assurer?

4.If the preceding questions are answered in the affirmative, is Article 36(1) of Directive 2002/83/EC concerning life assurance to be interpreted as meaning that a consumer acceding to a unit-linked group endowment and life assurance contract as an assured person must receive information on the characteristics of the capital assets and the risks associated with investing in those assets before conclusion of the contract, in a separate pre-contractual procedure, and does it therefore preclude a provision of national law [such as] Article 13(4) of the Ustawa o działalności ubezpieczeniowej z dn. 22 maja 2003 r. (Law on insurance business of 22 May 2003) (Dz.U. No 124, item 11510; consolidated text of 16 December 2009, Dz.U. 2010 No 11, item 66), under which it is sufficient for that information to be disclosed for the first time in the assurance contract and during the conclusion thereof, and the time at which the information is received is not unambiguously and clearly kept separate and distinct in the procedure for acceding to the contract?

5.If the first three questions are answered in the affirmative, is Article 36(1) of Directive 2002/83/EC concerning life assurance, in conjunction with points 11 and 12 of Annex III(A) thereto, also to be interpreted as meaning that proper implementation of the obligation laid down therein to provide information must be regarded as an essential element of a unit-linked group endowment and life assurance contract and, consequently, may a finding that that obligation was not performed correctly have the effect of conferring on the assured consumer the right to claim repayment of all the assurance premiums paid on the ground of a possible declaration that the contract is invalid or is ineffective ab initio or that the individual declaration of accession to that contract is invalid or ineffective?

* Language of the case: Polish.

(1) OJ 2002 L 345, p. 1.