Abstract
This paper analyses one of the most important and current issues related to the liability of the defective product producer, given that this form of liability has gained importance as a result of the development of consumer rights, the emphasis being on development risks as one of the bases for the exoneration of the producer as a responsible person. After a brief presentation of the liability of the producer of the defective product, the focus of the paper shifts to the institution of development risks, which is presented first from the aspect of the Directive on Liability for Defective Products in which it first appeared, while analysing the views of the European Court of Justice and all open issues thereof, as well as the recognition of its advantages and disadvantages. The final chapters of the paper examine whether development risks alter the legal nature of the producer's liability, i.e. whether they lead to the penetration of subjective elements into his traditionally objective liability, and analyse the justification for introducing this institution into the Serbian legislation, with the identified advantages and disadvantages.
Highlights
The essence of the problem is: Whether the inab ility of the producer to detect the defect of a product at the time of its release on the basis of the level of scientific and technical knowledge should lead to his absolvent from liability and whether this introduces sub jective elements into something previously considered in theory as purely objective liability?
The Consumer Protection Act 1987, in Art. 4. para. 1. point (e) states that “the producer of a defective product may be relieved of liability for damages from such a product if he proves that the state of scientific and technical knowledge at the relevant time was not such that a producer of products of the same description as the product in question might be expected to have discovered the defect if it had existed in his products while they were under his control”
It is obvious that the problem in this version of development risk rules is the introduction of a category of “producers of the same kind of products”, that is, introducing, at first glance, subjective elements in the form of the expected, reasonab le treatment of such a producer in the same situa tion as the specific producer whose liability is being examined
Summary
The essence of the problem is: Whether the inab ility of the producer to detect the defect of a product at the time of its release on the basis of the level of scientific and technical knowledge (development risks) should lead to his absolvent from liability and whether this introduces sub jective elements into something previously considered in theory as purely objective liability?
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