Convention on the Law Applicable to Products Liability

The Convention on the Law Applicable to Products Liability is a convention concluded in 1971 within the framework of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), which governs the law that should be applied to products liability cases.[3] It entered into force in 1973 and as of 2020, 11 countries are party to it.[1]

Hague Liability Convention
State parties to the convention
  Parties to the convention
  Signatories to the convention
  Territories where the convention was applicable
Signed2 October 1973
LocationThe Netherlands
Effective1 October 1977[1]
Condition3 ratifications[2]
Parties11[1]
DepositaryMinistry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
LanguagesFrench and English
Convention on the Law Applicable to Products Liability at Wikisource

Scope of application

The convention exclusively determines the law that applies between the manufacturer or distributor of a product and the person(s) that have suffered damage. It thus does not handle which court has jurisdiction, or whether a judicial decision should be recognized.

The convention does not apply between the seller that directly sold the product to the person suffering the damage. The exclusion was chosen as the negotiators deemed the relationship between those two parties already clear enough, and would hamper wide adoption of the convention.[4]

The products the convention applies to "shall include natural and industrial products, whether raw or manufactured and whether movable or immovable", and thus has a wide meaning. Member states can decide to exclude agricultural products from the scope of the convention (Article 16), as Spain did.

Applicable law

The convention's main articles determining which law should be applied are Articles 4 and (if that doesn't result in an applicable law) Article 5.[3] They are summarized below:

Applicable lawIf it is also...ArticleCondition
Location where damage occurredResidence of the person suffering damageArticle 4a
principle place of business of the person held liableArticle 4b
place where the product was boughtArticle 4c
Residence of the person suffering damagethe product was bought thereArticle 5aArticle 4 does not lead to an applicable law
the principle place of business of the person held liableArticle 5b
the principle place of business of the person held liablenot a claim based on the law of the state where the injury took placeArticle 6Article 4 and 5 do not lead to an applicable law

Parties

StateSignatureRatification/AccessionEntry into forceComments
 Belgium24 March 1976
 Croatia22 January 19948 October 1991succession of Yugoslavia
 Finland10 August 199210 August 19921 November 1992
 France18 December 197319 July 19771 October 1977
 Italy6 February 1975
 Luxembourg2 October 197331 May 19851 August 1985
 Montenegro1 March 20073 June 2006succession of Yugoslavia
 Kingdom of the Netherlands2 October 197327 June 19791 November 1979for the whole Kingdom
 Norway2 October 197313 August 19761 October 1977does not apply to "rules of prescription and limitation"
 Portugal10 October 1973
 North Macedonia20 September 199317 November 1991succession of Yugoslavia
 Serbia29 April 200127 April 1992succession of Yugoslavia
 Slovenia8 June 199225 June 1991succession for Yugoslavia
 Spain11 March 198723 November 19881 February 1989reserves the right not to apply it to agricultural products
 Yugoslavia15 December 197615 December 19761 October 1977Still applicable through succession except in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.