Judgment_paragraph 87 · ZL and Others v Provident Polska S.A (C-321/22)

87In that regard, it should be recalled that the national court may substitute for an unfair term a supplementary provision of national law or a provision applicable where the parties to the contract at issue so agree, on the condition that that substitution is consistent with the objective of Article 6(1) of Directive 93/13 and enables real balance between the rights and obligations of the parties to the contract to be restored. However, that exceptional possibility is limited to cases in which declaring the unfair term invalid would oblige the court to annul the contract in its entirety, which would result in exposing the consumer to particularly unfavourable consequences, such that the consumer would be penalised (see, to that effect, judgments of 21 January 2015, Unicaja Banco and Caixabank, C‑482/13, C‑484/13, C‑485/13 and C‑487/13, EU:C:2015:21, paragraph 33 and the case-law cited, and of 12 January 2023, D.V. (Lawyers’ fees – Principle of an hourly rate), C‑395/21, EU:C:2023:14, paragraph 60).