What Was Completely Normal a Decade Ago Is Now Deemed “Unfair”

In Slovenia, banks once routinely concluded credit contracts with a currency clause in Swiss francs (CHF), as was either permitted or mandated by law. The current regulation of these credits presents challenges, both in terms of retroactivity and the principle of legal certainty, because EU law only generally defined the duty of explanation. However, the Court of Justice of the European Union has retroactively set very precise and strict rules regarding this duty. This was one of the key findings of the conference of lawyers held in Bled at the end of October 2023, which is the subject of this article. The majority of banks in Slovenia fulfilled their explanatory duty adhering to the then-current leg- islation. Furthermore, when considering the involvement of a notary and ex- plicit warnings in the credit agreements, it is evident that the majority of CHF credit agreements in Slovenia either meet the conditions or meet the standard that these agreements do not contain unfair terms. Consequently, practices that were entirely normal a decade ago are now considered unfair.

Key words: currency clause, credits, information duty, Swiss francs, CHF, EU law.