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European Union Updates

The European Union has agreed on new consumer credit rules through the CCDII Directive. Each EU member country is now expected to incorporate these rules into its own legal system.

Here are some updates on how that is going.

The German federal government is currently implementing new European legislation known as the Consumer Credit Directive II (CCD II).

With regard to access to debt counselling services, the German government drafted what is called the Schuldnerberatungsdienstegesetz (SchuBerDG).  This draft law was adopted by the German Parliament (Bundestag) and subsequently submitted to the Federal Council (Bundesrat).

Recently however, the Federal Council withheld its consent, because they said that the law would create unfunded costs for municipalities.  As a result, the draft law has been referred to a Mediation Committee to see how this can be addressed and implemented, or sent back to the drawing board.

 

In Austria, updated legislation that brings the CCDII into effect has been adopted by both chambers of Parliament. Which is in theory good news for consumers. Unfortunately, their new law does not really introduce any innovative changes to past legislation. Rather it focused mainly on just meeting the bare minimum requirements of the EU Directive despite many proposals that were made by local debt advice services (their Debt Counsellors) and consumer protection stakeholders during the drafting phase. Unfortunately, none of those proposals made it into the final version of the legislation.

 

Bulgaria has started the process of bringing in the CCDII. A draft Consumer Credit Act was published for public consultation during 2025. However, in January 2026 the European Commission said that they had not done a good job at calling for comments from the public within the time allowed. As a result, more effort will be required before the official directive becomes fully applicable in 20 November this year.