Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-582/23

PRESS RELEASE No 83/25 Luxembourg, 3 July 2025 Judgment of the Court in Case C-582/23 | [Wiszkier] 1 Bankrupt consumer: the bankruptcy court must be able to examine ex officio whether contractual terms are unfair That examination may be carried out irrespective of the fact that the list of claims has been approved and is binding In Poland, an individual was declared bankrupt. The majority of the claims against him, appearing on a list drawn up by a trustee in bankruptcy, originate in a mortgage loan agreement indexed to the Swiss franc that the bankrupt had concluded 12 years previously, as a consumer. He acknowledged all those claims, the list of which was also approved by the supervisory judge. On the basis of that list, the bankruptcy court must now either draw up a plan for the repayment of the claims or make a finding that the available assets are sufficient to honour all the debts, thereby making the plan redundant. At that advanced stage of the proceedings, the bankruptcy court considers that the loan agreement contains unfair terms capable of rendering it null and void. If that were the case, the amounts owed to the bank would be lower than those on the list and may not even exist at all. However, until now, the potential unfairness of the terms of that agreement has not been examined. According to Polish law, the list of claims is binding on the bankruptcy court, which has no power to examine contractual terms. It can only put the...