PolandKodeks cywilny, Articles 449[1] to 449[10], Liability for Damage Caused by a Dangerous Product (Directive 85/374/EEC)
Kodeks cywilny, art. 449[1]-449[10]
In force since .
A product liability rule binding private bodies.
- Private right of action
- Yes
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
As of .
What it requires
- The Civil Code treats a product as a movable thing, joined to another thing or not, and treats animals and electricity as products; it is not settled whether that reaches software supplied on its own (Arts. 45 and 449[1] § 2).
- If you produce a product in the course of your business, you answer for the damage a dangerous product causes to anyone (Art. 449[1] § 1).
- If you make a material, raw material or component, you answer like the producer unless the design of the product or the producer's instructions were the sole cause of the damage (Art. 449[5] § 1).
- If you put your name, trade mark or another distinguishing mark on a product, or bring a product of foreign origin onto the domestic market in the course of your business, you answer like the producer (Art. 449[5] § 2).
- If the producer is not known, you answer as the seller of a dangerous product unless, within a month of notice of the damage, you name the producer (or for imported goods the importer) to the injured person (Art. 449[5] § 4).
- Offer the safety that can be expected in normal use, judged by the circumstances when you put the product into circulation, including how you present it and the information you give the consumer (Art. 449[1] § 3).
- Be able to show that you did not put the product into circulation or did so outside your business, that its dangerous properties appeared only afterwards without a cause already in the product, that they could not be foreseen given the state of science and technology when you put it into circulation, or that they resulted from applying legal rules, because the law presumes the product was made and put into circulation in your business (Arts. 449[3] and 449[4]).
- Do not rely on a contract term to exclude or limit your liability for damage a dangerous product causes (Art. 449[9]).
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 in Article 449[1](2) of the Civil Code, a movable thing (rzecz ruchoma) read with Article 45, which limits things to material objects, reach software supplied on its own?
What this law does
Article 449[1](1) of the Civil Code makes whoever produces a dangerous product in the course of its business activity (the producer) liable for damage the product causes to anyone. Article 449[1](2) defines a product as a movable thing, even where it has been joined to another thing, and treats animals and electricity as products. Article 45 of the Code defines things as material objects only.
A product is dangerous under Article 449[1](3) if it does not provide the safety that can be expected given normal use of the product. Article 449[1](3) makes the circumstances when the product was put into circulation decisive, in particular how it was presented on the market and the information given to the consumer. Article 449[2] limits liability for damage to property to things normally intended for personal use that the injured person mainly used that way.
Article 449[3](1) excludes liability where the producer did not put the product into circulation, or put it into circulation outside its business activity. Article 449[3](2) excludes liability where the dangerous properties appeared after the product was put into circulation, unless they arose from a cause already in the product.
Article 449[3](2) also excludes liability where the dangerous properties could not be foreseen in light of the state of science and technology when the product was put into circulation. Article 449[3](2) also excludes liability where the properties resulted from applying legal rules. Article 449[4] presumes that a dangerous product that caused damage was made and put into circulation in the course of the producer's business activity.
Article 449[5](1) makes the maker of a material, raw material or component liable like the producer, unless the design of the product or the producer's instructions were the sole cause of the damage. Article 449[5](2) makes liable like the producer whoever presents itself as the producer by putting its name, trade mark or another distinguishing mark on the product. Article 449[5](2) also makes the importer of a product of foreign origin into the domestic market liable like the producer.
Article 449[5](3) makes the producer and the persons named in the earlier paragraphs jointly and severally liable. Article 449[5](4) makes the seller liable where the producer is not known, unless within a month of notice of the damage the seller names the producer, or for imported goods the importer, to the injured person. Article 449[7](1) excludes damage to the product itself and the benefit the injured person could have gained from using it.
Article 449[7](2) denies compensation under Article 449[1] where the damage to property does not exceed the equivalent of EUR 500. Article 449[8] sets a limitation period of three years from the day the injured person learned, or with due care could have learned, of the damage and the person obliged to repair it. Article 449[8] also provides that the claim is in any case time-barred ten years after the product was put into circulation.
Article 449[9] provides that liability for damage caused by a dangerous product cannot be excluded or limited. Article 449[10] leaves liability on the general rules, for non-performance of an obligation, and for statutory warranty and quality guarantee untouched.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app distributes a software product or ships a mobile app.