Product Liability 2018, Albania

  1. LIABILITY SYSTEMS

    1.1 What systems of product liability are available (i.e. liability in respect of damage to persons or property resulting from the supply of products found to be defective or faulty)? Is liability fault based, or strict, or both? Does contractual liability play any role? Can liability be imposed for breach of statutory obligations e.g. consumer fraud statutes?

    Product liability is mainly governed by provisions of the Law no. 9902/2008 On Consumer Protection and Albanian Civil Code.

    Subject to the above instruments the manufacturer shall be liable for the damages being caused by defective products, except for some specific cases(see question 3.1 below).

    Civil Code sets forth a fault-based kind of liability.

    1.2 Does the state operate any schemes of compensation for particular products?

    There are no provisions that provide for the operation by the State of compensation/indemnity schemes for particular products, unless the State acts as the producer of certain products (i.e. electricity) and in eventual cases of defective products would be obliged to compensate for the relevant damage.

    1.3 Who bears responsibility for the fault/defect? The manufacturer, the importer, the distributor, the "retail" supplier or all of these?

    The responsibility for the defective products is attached to the manufacturer. Subject to provisions of the Albanian Civil Code and Law no. 10480/2011 "On general safety of non-food products" the manufacturer is defined as:

    The manufacturer of a finished product, of a raw material, or manufacturer of an integral part of a product, as well as any other person appearing as such (manufacturer), by putting its name, trademark or another distinguishing mark on the product. The representative in Albania of the manufacturer, where the latter is not based in Albania. The importer of the products in absence of the manufacturer or its representative in Albania. Other persons included in the supply chain, insofar as its activity may affect the standard of the safety of the product. 1.4 May a regulatory authority be found liable in respect of a defective/faulty product? If so, in what circumstances?

    The liability of regulatory authorities is regulated by Law no. 8510/1999 "On the non-contractual liability of public authorities".

    Public authorities shall be held liable for the damages caused to individuals or legal entities, inter alia, in case of unlawful actions/omissions, in case non-functioning of technical equipment used by public authorities and in case they impose a continuous danger.

    1.5 In what circumstances is there an obligation to recall products, and in what way may a claim for failure to recall be brought?

    As a general principle, under Law on Product Safety, the manufacturer has to manufacture and market safe products.

    The safety of the product is presumed if compliant with general safety requirements, imposed by applicable law.

    The manufacturer and/or distributor within the framework of their activity and in line with the features of the product supplied, should take appropriate measures to ensure that they:

    have appropriate information on the risks posed by the products; and take appropriate measures to prevent these risks, including (where necessary) the notification of consumers through effective means, the suspension of trade of those products, the recall of the products from the market and the return of the products by consumers. Measures subject to item (ii) above include, inter alia, (a) indicating information enabling the identification and traceability of the manufacturer (such as address, identity and other useful information in this respect) in the label or the packaging of the product, information in connection with the product itself or the group of products in case the products pertains to a group of products and (b) conducting tests over samples of products placed in the course of trade, undertaking investigations with regard to the products, keeping a 'claims recording system', as well as the notification of distributors with regard to the tests being undertaken.

    Measures herein above may be undertaken voluntarily by the manufacturer or upon instruction of the market supervision authority. Moreover, the manufacturer who considers or has reasonable grounds to believe that the products placed in the course of trade are not compliant with the general safety requirements must adopt corrective measures to remedy, to recall the product or to stop their trade. In addition, when a risk arises thereof, the manufacturer should promptly notify the market supervision authority by also providing details on the incompliance and the corrective actions undertaken by the manufacturer.

    1.6 Do criminal sanctions apply to the supply of defective products?

    Law no. 7895/1995 "Criminal Code in the Republic of Albania", provides that the manufacturing, importing, preservation and selling of dangerous foods, beverages and other materials as well as medicaments, and the incorporation in manufacturing of chemicals and other materials in the manufacturing and processing of foods and beverages, thus causing death or severe injury to the health of individuals, are subject to pecuniary fines or imprisonment of up to 10 years. When more than one individual is affected, the sentence cannot be less than five years.

  2. CAUSATION

    2.1 Who has the burden of proving fault/defect and damage?

    Pursuant to Law no. 8116/1996 "The Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Albania", as amended, ("Code of Civil Procedure") the party that claims a right has an obligation to prove the facts on which the claim is founded.

    2.2 What test is applied for proof of causation? Is it enough for the claimant to show that the defendant wrongly exposed the claimant to an increased risk of a type of injury known to be associated with the product, even if it cannot be proved by the claimant that the injury would not have arisen without such exposure? Is it necessary to...

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