The right to effective judicial protection is violated when the court fails to award costs despite having declared the contractual clauses abusive.
The First Chamber of the Spanish Constitutional Court issued Judgment 91/2023, of 11 September 2023 (Constitutional Appeal No. 5905‑2020, published in the BOE on 12 October 2023), in which it held that the applicant’s right to effective judicial protection was violated.
The Court found that the lower court, ignoring the principle of effectiveness of European Union law, refused to impose costs on the defendant on the grounds of “serious doubts of law,” even though the proceeding had resulted in a declaration that the contractual clauses were abusive.
