As we all know,in modern society, with the development of science and technology, more and more products of all kinds turn up and they possess more and more functions and become more and more complicated to use, which bring about the increasing risks and a lot of injuries when being used accordingly.
Therefore, recently a great deal of attention has been given to cases involving products liability. And those developed countries, areas or unions such as USA and the EU take pains to make legislation on the issue of products liability with the intention of protecting legal rights of consumers and users, in which the doctrine of strict liability is stipulated. When applied to these cases, this doctrine holds one reliable for injuries caused by a defective, unreasonably dangerous product that he has placed on the market.
In China, stipulation concerning production liability can be first traced in General principles of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China, in Article 122 of which stipulates “ If a substandard product causes property damage or physical injury to others, the manufacturer or seller shall bear civil liability according to law.” Later, it is stipulated in the Product Quality Law enacted in 1993 that the manufacturer of a substandard product should bear the corresponding administrative liability and criminal liability, besides civil liability. Obviously it is urgent that some improvement should be made in legislation on Product liability compared with legislation in developed countries.
In USA, to establish a claim to recover for harm caused by a defective product, American tort law demands that at the very least plaintiff establish:
(1) that the plaintiff’s harm results from a product defect; and
(2) that the product was defective when it left the hands of the defendant-distributor.
On one hand, when the plaintiff can establish a manufacturing defect such that the product unit doesn’t conform to the manufacturer’s own intended design, it is sufficient to prove that the product was defective, regardless of whether the distributor was at fault or not. On the other hand, when products cause injury, claimants often suspect that a product defect was the culprit. Let us assume that the plaintiff is correct. The product that caused the injury was indeed defective at the time of the accident. Plaintiff is only half way home. It must also be established that the product was defective when it left the hands of the defendant. Surely, a defendant who distributed a perfectly good product that was rendered defective by someone afterwards doesn’t bear legal responsibility for the claimant’s injury.
But it is quite different in China to establish a claim to recover for harm caused by a defective product. First, if a substandard product causes property damage or physical injury to others, the manufacturer or seller shall bear civil liability, in Article 122 General principles of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China. Second, according to stipulations in China Product Quality Law enacted in 1993 and amended later in 2000,
1. a manufacturer shall be liable for compensation if his defective product causes damage to human life or property other than the defective product itself (hereinafter referred to as another person’s property);
2. where damage to human life or another person property is due to a products defect caused by the fault of a seller, the seller shall be liable for compensation;
3. where the seller can identify neither the producer of the defective product nor the supplier thereof, the seller shall be liable for compensation;
4. where a defective product causes damage to human life or another persons property, the victim may claim compensation from the manufacturer and may also claim compensation from the seller of such product;
5. where the liability falls on the producer, but the seller has made the compensation, the seller shall have the right to recover the loss from the manufacturer;
6. where the liability falls on the seller, but the manufacturer has made the compensation, the manufacturer shall have the right to recover the loss from the seller;
7. a manufacturer shall not be liable for compensation if he can prove the existence of any of the following circumstances:(1) The product has not been put in circulation;(2) The defect causing the damage did not exist at the time when the product was put in circulation;(3) The science and technology at the time the product was put in circulation was at a level incapable of detecting the defect.
“Shanghai Municipal Supervision Regulation Of Product Quality, Article 18" specifies:
1.Imported products to be marketed by the seller shall bear indications in Chinese of the name and place of origin of the product, and the name and address of the importer or the general distributor;
2.products that are related to human health, and the safety of person and property, or products that have special requirements of operation and maintenance, must be accompanied by instructions in Chinese;
3.products with a limited service life must bear an indication in Chinese of the expiry date;
4.products assembled with imported component parts or imported products to be separately packaged must bear indications in Chinese of the names and addresses of the factories doing assembly or separate packaging on themselves or on their respective packages.
Also, “Product Quality Law of PRC, Article 27"has also made the following prescripts:
The marks on the products or the package of products shall conform to the fact and satisfy the following requirements:
1.including a certificate of quality inspection;
2. including the name of product and the name and addresses of producer in the Chinese language;
3. If, according to the characteristics and requirements for use, the specification, grades or the names and contents of the major ingredients are required to be specified, they shall be specified clearly in Chinese; if it is required to inform consumers in advance, it shall be marked on the outer package or relevant materials shall be provided to consumers in advance;
4. Products which have a time limit for use, the date of production or the period for safe use or the date of losing effect shall be specified clearly in a conspicuous position of the product;
5. Products which may do harm to the human body or injure the safety of body and property due to improper use shall carry warning marks or warnings written in Chinese.