The Convention on the Law Applicable to Products Liability is a convention concluded in 1971 within the framework of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), which governs the law that should be applied to products liability cases. It entered into force in 1973 and as of 2020, 11 countries are party to it.
Scope of application The convention exclusively determines the law that applies between the manufacturer or distributor of a product and the person(s) that have suffered damage. It thus does not handle which court has jurisdiction, or whether a judicial decision should be recognized.
The convention does not apply between the seller that directly sold the product to the person suffering the damage. The exclusion was chosen as the negotiators deemed the relationship between those two parties already clear enough, and would hamper wide adoption of the convention.
The products the convention applies to "shall include natural and industrial products, whether raw or manufactured and whether movable or immovable", and thus has a wide meaning. Member states can decide to exclude agricultural products from the scope of the convention (Article 16), as Spain did.
Applicable law The convention's main articles determining which law should be applied are Articles 4 and (if that doesn't result in an applicable law) Article 5. They are summarized below:
Applicable law If it is also... Article ConditionLocation where damage occurred Residence of the person suffering damage Article 4a principle place of business of the person held liable Article 4b place where the product was bought Article 4cResidence of the person suffering damage the product was bought there Article 5aArticle 4 does not lead to an applicable law the principle place of business of the person held liable Article 5b the principle place of business of the person held liable not a claim based on the law of the state where the injury took place Article 6Article 4 and 5 do not lead to an applicable law
Parties State Signature Ratification/Accession Entry into force Comments succession of Yugoslavia succession of Yugoslavia for the whole Kingdom does not apply to "rules of prescription and limitation" succession of Yugoslavia succession of Yugoslavia succession for Yugoslavia reserves the right not to apply it to agricultural products Still applicable through succession except in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo
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