Tuotevastuulaki (694/1990), Strict Liability for Defective Products (Directive 85/374/EEC)

Section 1 says the Act concerns compensation for damage caused by a product to a person, and to property intended for private use or consumption that the injured person used mainly for that purpose. Section 1 defines a product as a movable thing, excluding a building on another person's land. Section 1 applies the provisions on products also to electricity. Section 1 defines a component as the raw material and part of a product and a substance used in making or producing it.

Section 2 excludes damage caused by the product to itself, damage caused to the product by a component connected to it before the product was put into circulation, and damage within the Nuclear Liability Act. Section 3 requires compensation for damage resulting from a product not being as safe as there was reason to expect.

Section 3 directs that the time the product was put into circulation, its foreseeable use, its marketing and instructions for use and other circumstances be taken into account. Section 4 treats damage arising from a component's lack of safety as caused by both the product and the component. Section 4 a puts on the injured person the burden of proving the damage, the lack of safety and the causal link between them.

Section 5 makes liable the person who manufactured or produced the product, the person who imported it into the European Economic Area to put it into circulation there, the person who brought it to be put into circulation from an EFTA state into the European Union, from the Union into an EFTA state or from one EFTA state into another, and the person who marketed it as his own under his name, trade mark or other distinguishing mark.

Section 5 does not apply the EFTA import rule to imports between states that ratified the Lugano Convention of 16 September 1988, in so far as a judgment for the injured person can be enforced on that ground against a person liable as producer, importer into the European Economic Area or own-brander.

Section 6 makes each person who put the product into circulation liable as the producer where the product does not show its producer, unless he names the liable person or the person who offered him the product within a reasonable time of a request. Section 6 applies the same rule to an imported product even where the product shows a person liable as producer or own-brander, unless it shows an importer within the meaning of section 5.

Section 7 releases the person claimed against from liability under sections 5 and 6 if he shows that he did not put the product into circulation in the course of business, or that the lack of safety results from the product having to comply with mandatory rules issued by an authority. Section 7 also releases that person if he makes it probable that the product had no lack of safety causing the damage when he put it into circulation.

Section 7 releases the maker of a component who shows that the lack of safety results from the design of the product into which the component was connected or from instructions of the manufacturer who ordered the product. The Government's bill states that the Act in force contains no ground of exemption based on the development risk. Section 8 provides that compensation under the Act is determined by applying the Tort Liability Act as far as appropriate.

Section 8 provides that there is no liability under the Act for property damage below 2,350 markka. Section 9 requires a claim to be brought within three years of the claimant learning, or having reason to learn, of the damage, the lack of safety and the person liable. Section 9 requires a claim to be brought within ten years of the liable person putting the product into circulation.

Section 10 makes void a contract term made before the damage appears that limits the injured person's right to compensation under the Act. Section 11 states that the Act does not limit the injured person's right to compensation on the basis of a contract, the Tort Liability Act or another law. Section 13 obliges the person who imported the product into Finland to help the injured person translate the claim into a foreign language.

Section 14 provides that the Act enters into force on 1 September 1991. Section 14 makes liable under the Act the person who put the damaging product into circulation after its entry into force. The Government's bill states that the Act entered into force with content almost in line with the 1985 directive. The consolidated text records its latest amendment, Act 468/2016, as in force from 1 January 2017.

The Government's bill would extend the definition of a product to include, besides electricity, raw materials, digital manufacturing files and software. Under the bill the provisions in force when it takes effect continue to apply to products placed on the market or put into use before then.