EU: Extension of Producer Liability

The EP will this week vote on a proposal to extend a 1985 directive on producer liability for defective products to include “primary agricultural products and game”. Speaking following the adoption of her report in the Environment Committee, Dagmar Roth-Berendt MEP (D, PES) welcomed the proposal as an important contribution to enhanced consumer protection against damage caused by defective products.

In a move which, if adopted, could have far reaching effects on future EU consumer policy, Mrs Roth-Berendt will propose a number of amendments to shift the burden of proof away from the consumer, obliging producers of newly developed products to assume liability in the event of the product proving to be defective. She is also asking for the financial limitation on producer liability be abolished, and for the abolition of the time limit in which consumers can institute proceedings.