Abstract
The issue of claims arising between the parties to an invalid or permanently ineffective legal transaction is an issue which has not been yet unequivocally resolved in national case law and is disputed in doctrine. At the same time, it is an issue of considerable practical importance given the number of ongoing proceedings on the validity of loan agreements indexed to foreign currency rates and subsequent proceedings concerning settlements between the parties to an invalid (permanently ineffective) contract, in the context of which banking institutions formulate many claims aimed at obtaining remuneration for the principal made available to consumers. The subject matter in question - as a result of requests for preliminary ruling submitted by the District Court for Warszawa-Śródmieście in Warsaw - was dealt with by the Court of Justice of the European Union under the proceedings pending in Case C-520/21 (Szcześniak vs Bank M.SA). In its judgment of 15 June 2023, the CJEU fully shared the view expressed by the Advocate General in February that year, indicating that Articles 6(1) and 7(1) of Directive 93/13 must be interpreted as, on the one hand, precluding an interpretation of national law according to which a trader is entitled to claim from a consumer “a compensation over and above the reimbursement of the money paid under that contract and interest for default from the date of the call for payment,” at the same time indicating that those provisions do not preclude such claims from being made by consumers provided that the objectives of Directive 93/13 and the principle of proportionality are respected.