European Union – Consumer protection. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling deciding that arts 2(2)(j) and 3(f) of Directive (EC) 2008/48 had to be interpreted as meaning that a credit rescheduling agreement, which was concluded, following the consumer's default, between that consumer and the lender through a debt collection agency, was not agreed to 'free of charge', within the meaning of that article, where, by that agreement, the consumer undertook to repay the total amount of that credit and to pay interest and costs that had not been provided for by the initial contract under which that credit had been granted.