Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Approximation of laws - Liability for defective products - Directive 85/374 - Exemption from liability - Condition - Not put into circulation - Use of a product during the provision of a medical service

(Council Directive 85/374, Art. 7(a))

2. Approximation of laws - Liability for defective products - Directive 85/374 - Exemption from liability - Condition - Activity having no economic or business purpose - Product manufactured and used in the course of a medical service financed from public funds

(Council Directive 85/374, Art. 7(c))

3. Approximation of laws - Liability for defective products - Directive 85/374 - Damage to be taken into account - Material damage

(Council Directive 85/374, Art.9)

4. Approximation of laws - Liability for defective products - Directive 85/374 - Damage to be taken into account - Obligation of the national court to determine under which head the damage was incurred

(Council Directive 85/374, Art. 9)

Summary

1. Article 7(a) of Directive 85/374 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective products, which provides that the producer is not to be liable if he proves that he did not put the product into circulation, is to be interpreted as meaning that a defective product is put into circulation when it is used during the provision of a specific medical service, consisting in preparing a human organ for transplantation, and the damage caused to the organ results from that preparatory treatment.

( see para. 18, and operative part 1 )

2. Article 7(c) of Directive 85/374 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective products is to be interpreted as meaning that the exemption from liability where an activity has no economic or business purpose does not extend to the case of a defective product which has been manufactured and used in the course of a specific medical service which is financed entirely from public funds and for which the patient is not required to pay any consideration.

( see para. 22, and operative part 2 )

3. Article 9 of Directive 85/374 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective products is to be interpreted as meaning that, save for non-material damage whose reparation is governed solely by national law and the exclusions detailed in that article as regards damage to an item of property, a Member State may not restrict the types of material damage, resulting from death or from personal injury, or from damage to or destruction of an item of property, which are to be made good.

( see para. 29, and operative part 3 )

4. The national court is required, under Directive 85/374 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective products, to examine under which head the circumstances of the case are to be categorised, namely whether the case concerns damage covered either by point (a) or by point (b) of the first paragraph of Article 9 or non-material damage which may possibly be covered by national law. The national court may not, however, decline to award any damages at all under the Directive on the ground that, where the other conditions of liability are fulfilled, the damage incurred is not such as to fall under any of the foregoing heads.

( see para. 33, and operative part 4 )