Civil Code amendment introduces a special regime in the enforcement of rights arising from consumer contracts

The government has adopted a draft amendment to the Act No. 40/1964 Coll. Civil Code, in which a new provision regarding the limitation of claims arising from consumer contracts shall amend the Civil Code. The mentioned changes represent a reaction on the findings of the Constitutional Court No. PL. ÚS 11/2016-60, which declared the Article 5b of the Act on Consumer Protection as incompatible with the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. These changes shall substantially modify the institute of limitation in the Slovak legal system.

Systematically, the new Article 54b shall be added to the framework of consumer contracts within the Civil Code.

According to the draft Act, following the lapse of the limitation period, a right arising from a consumer contract shall not be enforceable nor can be validly secured. Unlike the annulled provision of the Act on Consumer Protection, the proposed Article shall be applicable to both sides of the consumer-supplier relation.

The above-mentioned shall not affect the performance of a security, in the event that the right arising from a consumer contract was secured prior to lapse of the limitation period. Under the scope of the present Article, a security shall mean all forms of securities provided for in Article 544 and subs. of the Civil Code.

Lapsed right may be validly amended, or replaced by a new right or its enforceability may be restored or debt acknowledged only under the condition that the debtor is aware of the limitation.

The Government’s proposal contains interim provisions, in which the described legal regime shall not be applicable to judicial, executional and arbitration proceedings in the enforcement of a right arising from a consumer contract, initiated prior to the entry into force of the Act.

The Act shall become effective immediately following its publication. Whereas the draft Act was already debated in the first reading during the September parliamentary session, therefore, we expect it to become effective at the end of the year.