Rationes Decidendi:

The Regional Court in Prešov [SVK], upholding the decision of the trial court (District Court in Kežmarok [SVK]), arrived, inter alia, at the following conclusions:
- An arbitration clause that is not the result of a consumer’s aktive negotiation of the terms of the contract and that does not provide the consumer with any choice as to whether to accept or decline the clause is unfair and consequently contra bonos mores.
- If the arbitral award was delivered on the basis of an unfair arbitration clause, the court may decline to give its consent with enforcement (execution) of the award or terminate the already pending enforcement proceedings (execution).
- A so-called absolute commercial transaction, which is obligatorily subject to the provisions of the Commercial Code, can also be classified as a consumer contract (a contract concluded by a consumer), which is subject to special consumer protection. Such contracts are also subject to the special consumer protection regime in terms of the Directive.
- The consumer is no doubt the weaker contracting party, whether for his or her lack of the necessary information or for his or her weaker negotiating position.
- The protection of consumers against unfair contractual terms entails absolute nullity, and there is no justification for such terms. In this regard, the European Union promoted the status of consumer protection to the level of national public policy rules.
- An adhesion contract offers no choice to the consumer, here in the sense of giving preference to arbitration over litigation in case of a dispute, or vice versa.
- If the obligor breached his or her obligations, the obligee has the right to enforce his or her rights. Such enforcement, however, must be exercised with the use of legitimate means of protection, which do not include procedures based on unfair terms in consumer contracts.
- Acknowledgment of debt by the obligor only entails substantive-law effects, and does not validate unfair terms in a contract (in the present case, an agreement on the method of enforcing claims under an unfair arbitration clause).
- The characteristic of a judgment as final and conclusive is the Essentials quality thereof, because it is associated with the important principle of legal certainty resulting from a final and conclusive decision on the merits (res judicata). However, in certain cases, the law itself explicitly provides that a final and conclusive judgment can be subject to review (for instance, by way of exceptional remedial measures). Such legally approved exceptions to the rule include the court’s power to dismiss a petition for enforcement or to terminate already-pending enforcement proceedings pursuant to special laws (pursuant to the Arbitration Act10).