This book covers the new product liability laws enacted (to date in seventeen Western European countries) in response to the 1985 European Union Product Liability Directive. The EU Directive, plus the national laws from ten of the EU Member States and from the seven European Free Trade Association countries, are analyzed and compared. The official texts of the EU Directive and of each of the national laws are reprinted -- in the original languages with parallel English translations -- in the Appendices. The scope of the book is not limited to the new laws, however, and includes all relevant prior product liability laws, e.g. national Civil Code provisions and case law. Procedural aspects, including court costs and lawyers' fees, are also discussed. The Guide is designed to help manufacturers, insurers, suppliers, exporters, importers, lawyers and students to orient themselves in an area of law that has become increasingly important, complex and transnational.
