AUSTRIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Jasna Zwitter-Tehovnik and Martin Navara, DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach
by respective ministries. The Directive’s expand - ed scope and enhanced requirements reflect a response to modern market practices, includ - ing the rise of “buy now, pay later” schemes, necessitating broader inclusion of credit types and stricter consumer protections. The draft is intended as an initial discussion framework and is being reviewed within a work - ing group at the Ministry of Justice. A particularly contentious point in the draft is the proposal to introduce an interest rate cap to curb excessively high interest rates on consumer credit. However, the draft rejects the proposal to invalidate con - tracts with excessively high interest rates, refer - encing the existing Austrian usury law (Section 879 of the Austrian Civil Code, which already prevents grossly disproportionate transactions).
The draft implementing act closely follows the EU Consumer Credit Directive, with some adjustments tailored to the Austrian legal land - scape, particularly in areas such as the interest- free loan exemption, the consumer definition and the pre-contractual information obligations. These amendments are designed to enhance consumer protection while maintaining the integrity of Austria’s existing laws on credit and consumer finance. Member state options that would make the rules stricter were generally not adopted.
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