United KingdomConsumer Protection Act 1987, Part I, strict liability for defective products
Consumer Protection Act 1987, c. 43, Part I (ss. 1-9)
In force since .
A product liability rule binding public and private bodies.
- Private right of action
- Yes
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
As of .
What it requires
- The Act defines a product as any goods or electricity, including one comprised in another product as a component part; it is uncertain whether that reaches software or an AI system supplied on its own, and the Law Commission of England and Wales has proposed that it should (section 1(2)).
- If you manufacture a product, put your name or trademark on it as if you made it, or import it into the United Kingdom to supply it in the course of business, you are liable for damage a defect in it causes, and the injured person does not have to prove fault (section 2(1) and (2)).
- If you only supply a product and the injured person asks you to identify the producer, own-brander or importer, within a reasonable period after the damage and when they cannot reasonably identify all of them, answer within a reasonable period by identifying them or the person who supplied it to you, or you are liable for the damage yourself (section 2(3)).
- A product is defective if its safety is not such as persons generally are entitled to expect; all the circumstances count, including how you marketed it, your instructions and warnings, what might reasonably be done with it and when you supplied it (section 3).
- Do not rely on a contract term, a notice or any other provision to limit or exclude this liability to an injured person or to a dependant or relative of one (section 7).
- You have a defense if the defect is attributable to compliance with a legal requirement, did not exist in the product at the relevant time, or could not have been discovered given the state of scientific and technical knowledge at the relevant time (section 4(1)(a), (d) and (e)).
- Claims cover death, personal injury and loss of or damage to property ordinarily intended for private use, but not damage to the product itself, and property damage of £275 or less is not compensated (section 5).
- In England and Wales a claim must be brought within three years of the later of when it accrued and the claimant's date of knowledge, and the right of action is extinguished ten years after the relevant time (Limitation Act 1980, section 11A).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does the definition of a product as any goods or electricity in section 1(2) of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 extend to software and AI systems, in particular when they are supplied digitally rather than on a physical medium?
What this law does
Part I of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 makes liable for damage caused wholly or partly by a defect in a product its producer, any person who held themselves out as the producer by putting a name or trademark on the product, and any person who imported it into the United Kingdom to supply it in the course of business.
A supplier of a defective product is liable for the damage if the injured person asks it to identify a person liable under section 2(2), the request is made within a reasonable period after the damage occurs and when the injured person cannot reasonably identify all of them, and the supplier fails within a reasonable period to comply or to identify the person who supplied the product to it. Where two or more persons are liable for the same damage, their liability is joint and several.
Part I defines a product as any goods or electricity, including a product comprised in another product as a component part or raw material or otherwise. Part I states that it was enacted to comply with the product liability Directive and is to be construed accordingly. A product is defective if its safety is not such as persons generally are entitled to expect.
In deciding what persons generally are entitled to expect, all the circumstances are taken into account, including the manner in which and purposes for which the product has been marketed and any instructions or warnings. It is a defense that the defect is attributable to compliance with any requirement imposed by or under any enactment or with any assimilated obligation. It is a defense that the defect did not exist in the product at the relevant time.
For a person to whom section 2(2) applies, the relevant time is the time when that person supplied the product to another. It is a defense that the state of scientific and technical knowledge at the relevant time was not such that a producer of products of the same description might be expected to have discovered the defect if it had existed in his products while they were under his control.
The liability cannot be limited or excluded by any contract term, by any notice or by any other provision. Damage means death or personal injury or any loss of or damage to any property, but a person is not liable for loss of or damage to the product itself.
There is no liability for loss of or damage to property that is not of a description ordinarily intended for private use, occupation or consumption and intended by the person suffering the loss mainly for their own private use, occupation or consumption. No damages are awarded for loss of or damage to property if the amount that would be awarded, apart from this rule and any interest, does not exceed £275.
Schedule 1 to the Act inserts section 11A into the Limitation Act 1980 for England and Wales. Under section 11A of the Limitation Act 1980, an action for personal injury or property damage under Part I must be brought within three years of the later of the date the cause of action accrued and the date of knowledge of the injured person or, for property damage, of the claimant.
Under section 11A of the Limitation Act 1980, the right of action is extinguished ten years after the relevant time, whether or not it had accrued. The Law Commission of England and Wales notes that claimants may face significant evidential hurdles in proving defect and causation, particularly in complex technical cases. Part I came into force on .
No person is made liable under Part I for damage caused by a defect in a product that its producer supplied before Part I came into force. The Act extends to Northern Ireland with specified exceptions. Part I binds the Crown, but only as far as the Crown is made liable in tort or in reparation under the Crown Proceedings Act 1947.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app distributes a software product or ships a mobile app.