A Comparison of the Actions about Defective Products under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and Common Law Actions about Negligently Manufactured Products in the UKİngiltere'de 1987 Tarihli Tüketicinin Korunması Kanununa Göre Ayıplı Mallara İlişkin Açılan Davalarla İçtihat Hukukuna Göre İhmal Sonucu Üretilmiş Mallara İlişkin Açılan Davalar Arasında Bir Karşılaştırma

Year 2013, Volume: 8 Issue: Özel, 2765 - 2784, 01.06.2013

 h. Gökçe Türkoğlu

Abstract

Under the early English case law, the buyer’s had no real protection against the defects in the product they bought. But, due to the developments in the English tort law, it was accepted that if the defendant had fault, then there was tort liability in respect of harm caused by a negligently manufactured product. Before 1985, the product liability laws in European Union Member States were different from each other and the differences were causing important difficulties to trade within EU. In order to solve these problems, the Directive on Products Liability 85/374/EEC was adopted in 1985. Unfortunately, the details of the Directive on Product Liability have been criticized heavily for some time. By allowing Member States to derogate from the Directive on some issues, a consensus was achieved. The Directive on Product Liability was adapted to English Law by the Consumer Protection Act 1987. The 1987 Act brings strict liability regime which is not dependent on the fact of the defectiveness of the products purchased. But the Act does not replace common law rules. So in English law, both strict liability and tortious liability can be used for defective products. It was thought that strict liability could bring a better protection for the consumers as there was no need to prove the fault of the defendant but subsequent cases showed that at some points, common law provides greater consumer protection than 1987 Act. Actually, an action for damages in respect of harm caused by a defective product under the 1987 Act differs very little from a common law action for damages in respect of harm caused by a negligently manufactured product

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A Comparison of the Actions about Defective Products under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and Common Law Actions about Negligently Manufactured Products in the UKİngiltere'de 1987 Tarihli Tüketicinin Korunması Kanununa Göre Ayıplı Mallara İlişkin Açılan Davalarla İçtihat Hukukuna Göre İhmal Sonucu Üretilmiş Mallara İlişkin Açılan Davalar Arasında Bir Karşılaştırma

Abstract

İngiliz içtihat hukukunun ilk zamanlarında, alıcıların satın almış oldukları ürünlerdeki ayıplara karşılık gerçek anlamda bir korumaları bulunmamaktaydı. Zaman içinde, İngiliz hukukundaki gelişmelere bağlı olarak, davalının kusuru bulunmak kaydıyla, ayıplı olarak üretilmiş mallar açısından, alıcının haksız fiil sorumluluğunun işletebileceği kabul edilmiştir. 1985’ten önce, Avrupa Birliği üye devletlerinin ürün sorumluluğu hukukları birbirlerinden farklı idi ve bu farklılıklar, Avrupa Birliği dahilindeki ticaret açısından önemli zorluklara yol açmaktaydı. İşte bu çeşit zorluklardan kaynaklanan problemleri çözmek için, 1985 yılında, Ürün Güvenliği hakkındaki Direktif 85/374/AET kabul edildi. Ne yazık ki, Ürün Güvenliği hakkındaki Direktifin içeriği ciddi eleştirilere maruz kalmıştır. Sonunda, üye devletlerin belli noktalarda Direktiften ayrılabilmesi, dolayısıyla da, iç hukuklarında daha fazla tüketici korunması sağlanmasının kabul edilmesiyle, söz konusu eleştiriler önemli ölçüde ortadan kaldırılmıştır

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