SloveniaZakon o varstvu potrošnikov (ZVPot-1), Articles 58 to 65, Liability of the Producer for Goods with a Defect (Directive 85/374/EEC)
Zakon o varstvu potrošnikov (ZVPot-1), 58. do 65. člen
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
- Do not assume this chapter answers whether standalone software is goods: Article 59 speaks of any movable thing and electricity and does not name software (Art. 59).
- If you make goods, a component or a raw material, or put your name, trade mark or another distinguishing sign on goods, you answer as the producer; so do the importer and the first distributor of goods not made in Slovenia (Art. 4, points 5 and 20, and Art. 58(1)).
- Answer for death, bodily injury and damage to health, and for damage to another thing that is ordinarily meant for private use and was mainly used privately; the injured person bears a share of EUR 500 in damage to another thing (Art. 58(1) and (2)).
- If neither the producer nor the importer can be identified, tell the injured person within a reasonable time who the producer or importer is or who supplied you the goods, or you are treated as the producer (Art. 58(3)).
- Make goods as safe as a consumer may justifiably expect, judged on how you present them, their foreseeable use in a reasonable manner and the time you put them into circulation; goods are not defective only because better goods are put into circulation later (Art. 60).
- Be ready to prove an Article 64(1) excuse: that you did not put the goods into circulation, that it follows from the circumstances that the defect did not exist when you did, that the defect results from complying with mandatory rules, that you made only a component or raw material and the defect arose from the design or instructions of the goods it went into, that the state of science and technical progress did not allow the defect to be discovered, or that you did not make the goods for economic distribution or in the course of your activity (Art. 64(1)).
- Do not rely on a contract term to limit or exclude your liability under the chapter (Art. 64(2)).
- Answer persons who are not consumers as well: the rights under the chapter belong to them too (Art. 65).
- Keep the ten-year period in view: liability is tied to the ten years from the day you put the defective goods into circulation (Art. 63).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does a premična stvar (movable thing) in Article 59 of the ZVPot-1 include software supplied on its own as goods?
What this law does
Article 58(1) makes the producer of goods liable for damage that a defect in the goods causes by death, bodily injury or injury to health, or by damage to another thing. Article 58(2) makes the producer pay for damage to another thing where the thing is ordinarily meant for private use and the injured person mainly used it privately, with the injured person bearing a share of EUR 500 in that damage.
Article 58(3) treats every supplier as the producer where neither the producer nor the importer can be identified, unless the supplier tells the injured person within a reasonable time who the producer or importer is or who supplied the goods. Article 59 defines goods for the chapter as any movable thing, even where it is part of another movable thing or connected with an immovable, including electricity.
Article 60(1) makes goods defective when their safety is not what a consumer may justifiably expect, judged on the presentation of the goods, their foreseeable use in a reasonable manner and the time they were put into circulation. Article 60(2) provides that goods are not defective only because better goods were put into circulation later. Article 61 requires the injured person to prove the defect, the damage and the causal link between them.
Article 62 treats goods as put into circulation when the producer made them available or in use, or sent them out, whatever the legal basis. Article 63 ties the producer's liability to a ten-year period running from the day it put the defective goods into circulation.
Article 64(1) excuses the producer who proves that it did not put the goods into circulation, that it follows from the circumstances that the defect did not exist when it did, or that the defect results from compliance with mandatory rules. Article 64(1) also excuses a producer that made only a component or a raw material, where the defect arose from the design of the goods it went into or from the instructions of the producer of those goods.
Article 64(1) keeps the development-risk defense: the producer is excused where the state of science and technical progress when it put the goods into circulation did not allow the defect to be discovered. Article 64(1) also excuses a producer that did not make the goods for sale or another form of distribution for economic purposes, and did not make or put them into circulation in the course of its activity. Article 64(2) bars limiting or excluding liability under the chapter by contract.
Article 65 gives the rights under the chapter also to persons who are not consumers under the Act. Article 3(1) applies the law on obligations to relations that the consumer-protection laws do not govern. The Državni zbor adopted the Act on . The Act was published in the Uradni list RS, number 130/2022, on . Article 249 brings the Act into force on the fifteenth day after its publication and applies it three months after it enters into force.
The government's explanatory text for the draft replacement Act describes the previous ZVPot as having set the liability of the producer for a product in its Articles 4 to 11.a.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app distributes a software product or ships a mobile app.