Consumer protection law - CASELEX:EU:2009:151
Directive 85/374/EEC – Liability for defective products – Articles 3 and 11 – Mistake in the classification of ‘producer’ – Judicial proceedings – Application for substitution of the producer for the original defendant – Expiry of the limitation period.
Legal issue:
Is Directive 85/374 to be interpreted as precluding national legislation which, in the context of proceedings instituted on the basis of the system of liability laid down by that directive, allows the substitution of one defendant for another after the expiry of the 10-year period laid down in Article 11 of that directive, although the person named as a defendant in those proceedings before the expiry of that period did not fall within the scope of the directive, as defined in Article 3 thereof?
Operative part of the European Court of Justice's judgement
Article 11 of Council Directive 85/374/EEC of 25 July 1985 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective products must be interpreted as precluding national legislation, which allows the substitution of one defendant for another during proceedings, from being applied in a way which permits a 'producer', within the meaning of Article 3 of that directive, to be sued, after the expiry of the period prescribed by that article, as defendant in proceedings brought within that period against another person.
However, first, Article 11 must be interpreted as not precluding a national court from holding that, in the proceedings instituted within the period prescribed by that article against the wholly-owned subsidiary of the 'producer', within the meaning of Article 3(1) of Directive 85/374, that producer can be substituted for that subsidiary if that court finds that the putting into circulation of the product in question was, in fact, determined by that producer.
Second, Article 3(3) of Directive 85/374 must be interpreted as meaning that, where the person injured by an allegedly defective product was not reasonably able to identify the producer of that product before exercising his rights against the supplier of that product, that supplier must be treated as a 'producer' for the purposes, in particular, of the application of Article 11 of that directive, if it did not inform the injured person, on its own initiative and promptly, of the identity of the producer or its own supplier. That is for the national court to determine in the light of the circumstances of the case.
Further details of Case C‑358/08 - Caselex
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