Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: Euopean Union' Court of Justice

Date: 12/21/2011

Subject: The Court affirmed that the liability of a service provider which, in the course of providing services such as treatment given in a hospital, uses defective equipment or products of which it is not the producer within the meaning of Directive 85/374/EEC on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective products, as amended by Directive 1999/34/EC, and thereby causes damage to the recipient of the service does not fall within the scope of the directive. Directive 85/374 does not therefore prevent a Member State from applying rules, such as those at issue in the main proceedings, under which such a provider is liable for damage thus caused, even in the absence of any fault on its part, provided, however, that the injured person and/or the service provider retain the right to put in issue the producer’s liability on the basis of the directive when the conditions laid down by the latter are fulfilled.

Parties: Centre hospitalier universitarie de Besançon

Classification: Freedoms - Art. 15 Freedom to provide services - Justice - Art. 47 Justice: remedy

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