We had a very interesting and constructive video-conference meeting today with Brian Hayes, MEP and Veronica Manfredi, Head of the Unit for Consumer and Marketing Law at the European Commission. She told us that the EU does absolutely offer protection to consumers who have experienced mis-selling, such as that which has happened with French leasebacks. She outlined the EU directives concerned and indicated the next steps that we could take. The directives concerned are: Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices (the UCPD) prohibits commercial practices that can deceive consumers, if such practices are likely to cause consumers to take transactional decisions they would not have taken otherwise. And Directive 93/13/EEC on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts (the UCTD) protects consumers against unfair contract terms. Under Article 6 of this Directive, MS shall lay down that unfair terms in a consumer contract shall not be binding on the consumer. In particular, for those owners who have received correspondence via the Irish courts service from French banks in pursuit of mortgage monies owed after repossession, or those concerned with the possibility of this, the above directive states that “If a consumer tells a court that he believes that his European rights have been violated, the court must stay the proceedings and assess whether this is the case.” It is also possible to take a case through the Irish courts. Further details to follow. Many thanks to Veronica Manfredi and her team for their detailed and helpful responses. And also to Brian Hayes and his team for setting up the session and progressing this issue on our behalf.