European Union – Consumer protection. The Court of Justice of the European Union made a preliminary ruling, deciding that art 4(1)(2) of Directive (EC) 2004/39 had to be interpreted as meaning that, subject to verification by the referring court, an investment service or activity within the meaning of that provision did not encompass certain foreign exchange transactions, effected by a credit institution under clauses of a foreign currency denominated loan agreement such as the one at issue in the main proceedings, consisting in fixing the amount of the loan on the basis of the purchase price of the currency applicable when the funds were advanced and in determining the amounts of the monthly instalments on the basis of the sale price of that currency applicable when each monthly instalment was calculated.