Costea v SC Volksbank Romania SA; C-110/14

European Union – Consumer protection. The Court of Justice of the European Union held that, art 2(b) of Council Directive (EEC) 93/13 had to be interpreted as meaning that a natural person who practised as a lawyer and concluded a credit agreement with a bank, in which the purpose of the credit was not specified, might be regarded as a 'consumer' within the meaning of that provision, where that agreement was not linked to that lawyer's profession. The fact that the debt that arose out of the same contract was secured by a mortgage taken out by that person in his capacity as representative of his law firm and involved goods intended for the exercise of that person's profession, such as a building that belonged to that firm, was not relevant in that regard.