European Union – Contract. Article 2(b) of Council Directive (EEC) 93/13 should be interpreted as meaning that the employee of an undertaking and his spouse, who had concluded a loan contract with that undertaking, reserved, principally, to members of staff of that undertaking, with a view to financing the purchase of real estate for private purposes, should be regarded as 'consumers', within the meaning of that provision. Further, that undertaking had to be regarded as a 'seller or supplier', within the meaning of art 2(c) of that Directive , where it concluded such a loan contract in the context of its professional activity, even if granting loans did not constitute its main activity. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held in a preliminary ruling in proceedings concerning a request for payment of outstanding sums owed in the context of a mortgage loan granted by the respondent electricity company to the first applicant employee and his wife.