In a recent case, the Supreme Court for Civil Matters declares a clause of general terms and conditions of a bank as invalid which contained the phrase “Expenses of third-parties shall be passed on.”. The clause in question is non-transparent for the average consumer because it is listed among services of the bank itself such as reminder fees, fees for re-ordering of debit cards etc. This way the consumer gets the impression that charges of third parties have to be paid in any case. It is not clear for the consumer whether the expenses of third-parties are charged for outsourced services of the bank or for third-party services directly. According to the ruling, third-party expenses which are passed on have to be comprehensibly specified (1Ob57/18s).
Specifying third party charges
