![C-157/23 (Ford Italia), judgment of 19 December 2024.
Ruling: Article 3(1) of Directive 85/374/EEC on liability for defective products (PLD) must be interpreted as meaning that the supplier must be considered to be a ‘person who … presents him[- or her]self as … [a] producer’ where that supplier has not physically put his or her name, trade mark or other distinguishing feature on the product, but the trade mark which the producer has put on that product is the same, on the one hand, as the name of the supplier or a distinctive element thereof, and, on the other hand, as the name of the producer.
Summary: Ford Italia is the Italian official distributor of cars produced by Ford WAG, a German company. Is Ford Italia liable for injuries caused by a defective airbag? Under Italian law (transposing Art 3(1) PLD) "any person who, by putting his or her own name, trade mark or other distinguishing feature on the product or its packaging, presents him-/herself as its producer must also be regarded as such". In this case, the distributor did not put its name on the vehicle. However, the name of the distributor (Ford Italia) contains the wording of the name put on the vehicle (Ford) by the producer. The ECJ clarified that these two scenarios are the same for the purposes of product liability. In both cases, the supplier uses the similarity between the wording in question and that supplier’s own name in order to present him-/herself to the consumer as the person responsible for the quality of the product and to give rise to confidence on the part of that consumer comparable to that which he or she would have if the product had been sold directly by that supplier’s producer (para 41). The supplier and the producer are thus jointly and severally liable. This is without prejudice to the rights of contribution or recourse and, in particular, to national law provisions enabling the supplier to invoke, in turn, the liability of the manufacturer of the defective product (para 47).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:dym4agqk2y6rqffrnubxni2k/bafkreib7mmwhqk5yrgjscujmndjfdm7lsldlykh3sk3pqfhm7pekodtpse)
C-157/23 (Ford Italia), judgment of 19 December 2024. Ruling: Article 3(1) of Directive 85/374/EEC on liability for defective products (PLD) must be interpreted as meaning that the supplier must be considered to be a ‘person who … presents him[- or her]self as … [a] producer’ where that supplier has not physically put his or her name, trade mark or other distinguishing feature on the product, but the trade mark which the producer has put on that product is the same, on the one hand, as the name of the supplier or a distinctive element thereof, and, on the other hand, as the name of the producer. Summary: Ford Italia is the Italian official distributor of cars produced by Ford WAG, a German company. Is Ford Italia liable for injuries caused by a defective airbag? Under Italian law (transposing Art 3(1) PLD) "any person who, by putting his or her own name, trade mark or other distinguishing feature on the product or its packaging, presents him-/herself as its producer must also be regarded as such". In this case, the distributor did not put its name on the vehicle. However, the name of the distributor (Ford Italia) contains the wording of the name put on the vehicle (Ford) by the producer. The ECJ clarified that these two scenarios are the same for the purposes of product liability. In both cases, the supplier uses the similarity between the wording in question and that supplier’s own name in order to present him-/herself to the consumer as the person responsible for the quality of the product and to give rise to confidence on the part of that consumer comparable to that which he or she would have if the product had been sold directly by that supplier’s producer (para 41). The supplier and the producer are thus jointly and severally liable. This is without prejudice to the rights of contribution or recourse and, in particular, to national law provisions enabling the supplier to invoke, in turn, the liability of the manufacturer of the defective product (para 47).
Is #FordItalia (distributor) liable for injuries caused by the defective airbag of a Ford car? The #ECJ clarified that a distributor whose name contains the wording of the product's name is liable for defects under #EU #productliability #law. Supplier & producer are thus jointly and severally liable