Consumers fight for new product liability law

Date: 07/10/1999

By Simon Coss

IF THE European Commission heeds the clamour from the Union's consumer organisations, EU shoppers will soon be given greater rights to sue companies which produce dangerous or faulty products.

The Commission published a Green Paper on product liability in July to launch a debate on whether the EU's current legislation designed to protect consumers against dangerous products, which dates back to 1985, should be reformed.

The response from the consumers' side has been an unequivocal "yes" . But industry has been more reticent, despite warnings from lawyers that changing the rules could result in US-style multi-million-euro claims and firms cannot therefore afford to remain silent.

The Commission asked interested parties to respond to its report before the end of November, but European employers' organisation UNICE says its members have not discussed it and it is therefore not yet ready to comment on its contents.

European consumer group BEUC has no such reservations. It argues that the 1985 legislation on defective products is fundamentally flawed and needs to be reformed.

First on the group's hit list is a clause which exempts companies from liability for damage caused by their products if there was no suggestion that they were dangerous while they were being developed. "This is simply too wide a loophole. If a producer causes damage with one of their products, then they should be held liable," says BEUC spokeswoman Valerie Thompson.

The organisation is also calling for references to minimum amounts of compensation to be removed from the law, which currently only applies in cases where damages are sought in excess of 500 euro.

Thompson insists that EU legislation should respect the principle that all citizens have the right to be compensated for faulty or dangerous goods.

Her organisation also wants to see the current ten-year limitation on claims deleted from the product safety rules.

Citing the example of the 1996 BSE crisis, Thompson points out that it can sometimes be years before it becomes apparent that a product is dangerous.

Part of a survey 'Challenges for industry', p13-20.