HungaryPolgári Törvénykönyv (Ptk.), 6:550-6:559. §, Liability for Damage Caused by a Defective Product (Directive 85/374/EEC)
2013. évi V. törvény a Polgári Törvénykönyvről, 6:550–6:559. §
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
- Treat standalone software as an open question under this chapter: it applies to a defect of an ingó dolog (movable thing), and its text does not say whether software supplied on its own is one (Secs. 6:551, 5:14(1)).
- If you produce a product, a part or a raw material, or put your name, trade mark or another distinguishing sign on a product, you answer as its producer (Sec. 6:553(1)).
- If you bring a product into the European Economic Area in the course of your business, you answer as its producer (Sec. 6:553(2)).
- If you distribute a product whose producer cannot be identified, name the producer or the distributor that supplied you to the injured person within thirty days of a written request, or you answer as the producer (Sec. 6:553(3) and (4)).
- Make the product as safe as can generally be expected, having regard to its purpose, reasonably expected use, the information given about it, when you put it into circulation and the state of science and technology (Sec. 6:554(1)).
- Be ready to prove a Sec. 6:555 defense: that you did not put the product into circulation, did not make it for commercial distribution, that the defect arose after you put it into circulation, that it was not recognizable in the state of science and technology, or that applying a law or a binding regulatory requirement caused it (Sec. 6:555(1)).
- If you made only a raw material or a part, be ready to prove that the structure or composition of the end product, or the end producer's instruction, caused the defect (Sec. 6:555(2)).
- Do not rely on a contract term to limit or exclude your liability to the injured person, because it is void (Sec. 6:557).
- Keep the claim periods in view: the injured person has three years from learning of the damage, the defect and the producer, and your liability ends ten years after you put the product into circulation (Sec. 6:558).
- This chapter keeps governing a product placed on the market or put into service up to and including , because the replaced provisions apply only to products placed on the market or put into service after that day (Sec. 55/A of Act CLXXVII of 2013, as inserted by Act XCII of 2025).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does an ingó dolog (movable thing) in section 6:551 of the Civil Code, read with section 5:14(1) on a possessable corporeal object, include software supplied on its own as a product?
What this law does
Section 6:550 makes the producer of a defective product liable for damage the product causes. Section 6:551 defines a product as every movable thing, even where it later became a component of another thing. Section 6:552 covers damage that results from a person's death, bodily injury or damage to health.
Section 6:552 also covers damage a defective product causes to other things above the forint equivalent of EUR 500 at the official Magyar Nemzeti Bank rate, where the damaged thing is ordinarily meant for private use or consumption and the injured person used it that way. Section 6:553(1) counts as producer the maker of the end product, a part or the raw material, and anyone who presents itself as producer by putting its name, trade mark or another distinguishing sign on the product.
Section 6:553(2) also treats as producer the person who brings an imported product into the European Economic Area in the course of its economic activity. Section 6:553(3) treats every distributor as the producer where the producer cannot be identified, until the distributor names the producer or the distributor it obtained the product from. Section 6:553(4) lets the distributor make that statement within thirty days of the injured person's written request.
Section 6:554(1) makes a product defective if it does not provide the safety that can generally be expected, having regard in particular to its purpose, reasonably expected use, the information given about it, the time it was put into circulation and the state of science and technology. Section 6:554(2) provides that a product is not defective only because a product offering greater safety is later placed on the market.
Section 6:554(3) puts the burden of proving the defect on the injured person. Section 6:555(1)(a) releases the producer where it proves that it did not put the product into circulation. Section 6:555(1)(b) also releases the producer where it proves that it did not make the product for commercial distribution or in the course of a commercial economic activity.
Section 6:555(1)(c) also releases the producer where it proves that the product was free of defect when it put it into circulation and that the cause of the defect arose later. Section 6:555(1)(d) also releases the producer where it proves that the defect could not be recognized according to the state of science and technology when it put the product into circulation.
Section 6:555(1)(e) also releases the producer where it proves that applying a law or a binding regulatory requirement caused the defect. Section 6:555(2) releases the producer of a raw material or a part where it proves that the structure or composition of the end product caused the defect or that the end producer's instruction did. Section 6:555(3) bars a producer from relying on the state of science and technology where a medicine used as prescribed caused the damage.
Section 6:556 denies the producer release on the ground that a third party's conduct also contributed to the damage. Section 6:557 makes void any limitation or exclusion of the producer's liability towards the injured person. Section 6:558(1) gives the injured person three years to assert a claim for damages. Section 6:558(2) starts that period when the injured person learned or could have learned of the damage, the defect and the producer's identity.
Section 6:558(3) limits the producer's liability under the chapter to ten years from the day it put the product into circulation, and a missed deadline extinguishes the right. Section 6:559(1) allows no award below the full damage even in circumstances that deserve particular leniency. Section 6:559(2) disapplies the chapter to damage defined in the atomic energy act and to damage from nuclear accidents that international conventions ratified by Hungary regulate.
Section 5:14(1) of the Civil Code, headed 'A dolog' (the thing), provides that a possessable corporeal object can be the object of ownership. Section 5:14(2) applies the rules on things also to money, securities and natural forces utilized in the manner of a thing. Section 8:6(1)(a) states that the Civil Code serves compliance with Council Directive 85/374/EEC and Directive 1999/34/EC.
Section 55/A of Act CLXXVII of 2013, as inserted by Act XCII of 2025, applies the amended provisions of the Civil Code to products placed on the market or put into service after . The Civil Code entered into force on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app distributes a software product or ships a mobile app.