ABSTRACT
The Tort Law of the People’s Republic of China, 1 (hereinafter Tort Law) which was enacted on December 26, 2009 and came into effect on July 1, 2010, provides for “Product Liability” in a particular chapter as a special kind of tort liability. Article 45 provides that “[w]here the defect of a product endangers the personal or property safety of another person, the victim shall be entitled to require the producer or seller to assume the tort liabilities by removing the obstruction or eliminating the danger.” Article 46 stipulates that “[w]here any defect of a product is found after the product is put into circulation, the producer or seller shall promptly take appropriate remedial measures such as warning and recall. The producer or seller who causes any damage by failing to take remedial measures in a timely manner or by taking insuffi cient or ineffective measures shall assume the tort liability.” These two provisions refl ect the trend of modern tort liability laws, which emphasize taking preventive action against damages before they happen, thus embodying renewed legislative principles. This chapter will analyze the signifi cance of these new legislative concepts based on the following aspects: a) the normative framework of product liability before the enactment of the Tort Law; b) the system of product liability and the legal regulations of product
* This chapter is part of the results of the Research Project on “ Current Trends of Chinese Law towards NonTrade Concerns such as Sustainable Development and the Protection of Environment, Public Health, Food Safety, Cultural, Social and Economic Rights, Labor Rights and the Reduction of Poverty from the Perspective of International Law and WTO Law ”, coordinated by Professor Paolo Davide Farah at gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom) and at West Virginia University John D. Rockefeller IV School of Policy and Politics, Department of Public Administration, in partnership with the Center of Advanced Studies on Contemporary China (CASCC) in Turin (Italy), Maastricht University Faculty of Law, Department of International and European Law and IGIR – Institute for Globalisation and International Regulation (Netherlands), and Tsinghua University, School of Law, Institute of Public International Law and the Center for Research on Intellectual Property Law in Beijing (China). An early draft of this chapter was presented at the Conferences Series on “ China’s Infl uence on Non-Trade Concerns in International Economic Law ”, Second Conference held at Tsinghua University, School of Law on January 14-15, 2012. This publication and the Conference Series were sponsored by China-EU School of Law (CESL) at the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL). The activities of CESL at CUPL are supported by the European Union and the People’s Republic of China.
