The Harmonisation of European Product Liability Rules: French and English Law

Abstract

The 1985 European Communities Directive on Product Liability1aims to harmonise member State product liability rules and to improve the level of protection of victims by basing the liability of producers for physical injury and damage to personal goods on the proof that the victim's damage was caused by a defect in the product supplied. On 19 May 1998, ten years after the deadline for transposition, France finally enacted legislation incorporating the Directive into national law.2The Directive was incorporated into English law by Part I of the Consumer Protection Act 1987.