18.1.2016

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 16/17

(Case C-534/15)

(2016/C 016/21)

Language of the case: Romanian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Pavel Dumitraș, Mioara Dumitraș

Defendant: BRD Groupe Société Générale — sucursala Satu Mare

Questions referred

1.Must Article 2(b) of Directive 93/13/EEC, as regards the definition of ‘consumer’, be interpreted as including in or, conversely, as excluding from, that definition natural persons who have, as guarantors/sureties, concluded additional acts and contracts (guarantee contracts, contracts providing immovable property as security) ancillary to the credit agreement entered into by a commercial company for the purposes of its business, where those natural persons have no connection with the activities of the commercial company and have acted for purposes unconnected with their trade, business or profession, in the light of the fact that, initially, the applicants were natural persons acting as guarantors of the principal debtor — a legal person of which one of the applicants was director — in connection with a loan agreement concluded with the defendant creditor, but subsequently the agreement in question was amended and the original debtor, of which the applicant referred to above was director, entered into a novation of the loan, with the agreement of the defendant creditor, with another legal person, neither of the applicants holding the position of director of that legal person but having undertaken, as sureties, for the benefit of the new debtor (a legal person), the obligation under the novation vis-à-vis the new debtor?

2.Must Article 1(1) of Directive 93/13/EEC be interpreted as meaning that only contracts concluded between traders and consumers concerning the sale of goods or supply of services fall within the ambit of that directive or as meaning that contracts (contracts of guarantee and of surety) ancillary to a credit agreement, the beneficiary of which is a commercial company, concluded by natural persons who have no connection with the activities of that commercial company and who acted for purposes unconnected with their trade, business or profession also fall within the ambit of that directive, in the light of the fact that, initially, the applicants were natural persons acting as guarantors of the principal debtor — a legal person of which one of the applicants was director — in connection with a loan agreement concluded with the defendant creditor, but subsequently the agreement in question was amended and the original debtor, of which the applicant referred to above was director, entered into a novation of the loan, with the agreement of the defendant creditor, with another legal person, neither of the applicants holding the position of director of that legal person but having undertaken, as sureties, for the benefit of the new debtor (a legal person), the obligation under the novation vis-à-vis the new debtor?

Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts (OJ 1993 L 95,p. 29).