Article 1202
If the product is defective and causes damage to others, the manufacturer shall bear tort liability.
1. The main purpose of this article
This article is about the producer's responsibility for the product.
II. Evolution of the Provisions
The legal norms on product liability in mainland China have previously been stipulated in the General Principles of the Civil Law, the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, the Product Quality Law and other laws. Article 122 of the original General Principles of the Civil Law of 1986 stipulates that "if the property or personal injury of others is caused by unqualified product quality, the manufacturer or seller of the product shall bear civil liability in accordance with the law." If the transporter or warehouse bears the responsibility, the product manufacturer or seller has the right to claim compensation for the loss. In 1986, the State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Responsibility for the Quality of Industrial Products, and since then, some provinces, municipalities and special economic zones have formulated some local regulations on product liability (or product quality). On the basis of summarizing the above-mentioned legislation and its practical experience, the Product Quality Law implemented in 1993 clearly stipulates product liability in Chapter IV "Compensation for Damages". Paragraph 1 of Article 29 stipulates that: "If the defective product causes damage to persons or property other than the defective product (hereinafter referred to as the property of others), the manufacturer shall be liable for compensation." Article 41 of the original Tort Liability Law clearly stipulates that "if the product is defective and causes damage to others, the manufacturer shall bear the tort liability." This article retains this provision and specifies the rules for producers regarding product liability.
3. Interpretation of Provisions
This article is about the producer responsibility in product liability.
Product liability refers to the special tort liability of the producer or seller who produces and sells the product that is defective and causes damage to others, and the producer or seller of the product bears no-fault liability.
The producer bears the responsibility for the product, and the principle of no-fault liability applies. Its constituent elements are:
(1) The product is defective, and the product defect is generally an unreasonable danger in the product. (2) The infringed party has suffered personal injury or property damage. (3) The damage suffered by the infringed party is caused by a defect in the product, and there is a causal relationship between the two. If the above three elements are met, it constitutes product liability, and the producer shall be liable for compensation for the damage caused by the defective products it produces.
There are four types of product defects: (1) Design defects, which refer to the unreasonable danger in the design of the product. (2) Manufacturing defects refer to the unreasonable dangers left in the product during the manufacturing process. (3) Warning description defect means that there is a reasonable danger in the product and can be circulated and used, but the reasonable danger should be warned and explained how to use it to avoid the danger. Failure to make a warning statement or insufficient warning statement constitutes a defect in the warning statement. (4) Follow-up observation of defects means that after the production of the product is completed, according to the scientific and technological level at that time, whether it is defective can not be found, and the product can be put on the market for circulation, but the producer must bear the obligation of follow-up observation, and when defects are found, a warning or recall shall be carried out in a timely manner. Failure to perform the warning statement or recall obligation is to follow up and observe the defect.
This involves the question of whether the self-damage of the product can be sued together. In traditional product liability law, product liability damages do not include self-damage to the product, but only personal injury and property damage other than the product. Article 41 of the Product Quality Law clearly stipulates this. In the process of formulating the Tort Liability Law, the legislator considered that the damage caused by the same act does not need to be tossed to the victim to sue for tort liability and breach of contract liability separately, so the damage of product liability is only defined as "damage", so that the "damage" includes the self-damage of the product. Therefore, in a product liability lawsuit, the infringed party can file a claim for damages for self-damage of the product, but this is a combination of the two lawsuits.
4. Cases
Wang v. Dongfeng Company, a product liability dispute
Facts: Wang purchased a Dongfeng brand stake transport vehicle from Huai'an Huafeng Automobile Trading Co., Ltd., and his employee Dai Mouchang drove the vehicle in a fire, causing the vehicle and the furniture on it to burn. According to the investigation by the fire department, the cause of the fire was the leakage of oil from the engine of the vehicle, and the oil dripped onto the exhaust pipe, which overheated and ignited the oil, which in turn caused the fire to spread to the furniture pulled behind the car after the car body burned. Wang sued the court. The court of first instance held that the effective judgment found that the vehicle involved in the case had quality defects in engine oil leakage, and that there was a causal relationship between the engine oil leakage quality defects in the vehicle and the fire accident, so Dongfeng Company, as the manufacturer of the vehicle involved in the case, should be liable for the losses caused by the vehicle defects. The reasonable losses suffered by Wang due to the fire include: vehicle losses, interest on car purchase financial lease loans, and operating losses. The original verdict was upheld in the second instance.
5. Analysis
In this case, a fire broke out in the vehicle driven by Wang during driving, causing the vehicle and the carrying furniture on the vehicle to burn, and the cause of the fire was that the engine of the vehicle leaked oil, and the oil dripped to the exhaust pipe, and the exhaust pipe overheated and ignited the engine oil, which in turn caused the fire to spread to the furniture pulled behind the car after the car body burned, and the fire was near the exhaust pipe under the engine, and the ignition point was the aluminum pipe fittings under the engine. The product should have the safety reasonably expected by consumers, and for the vehicle, its engine is the core component, and the quality of this component directly affects the personal and property safety of consumers during driving. The engine leakage oil has constituted a serious failure of the engine, which is enough to constitute a product defect. Therefore, Dongfeng Company, as the manufacturer of the defective vehicle, should bear no-fault liability for the property damage caused by the vehicle fire. In this case, the property damage caused by the defective product included not only the loss of furniture carried on the vehicle, but also the self-damage of the vehicle.