Court:

Supreme Court, Decision No 989/2004

Topics:

Consumer protection

Liability of the producer of defective products

Articles:

Articles 6 and 7, Law 2251/1994

Facts:

On January 1995 the defendant company bought potato seed from the Netherlands in order to resell it in Greece. The seed had been certified as good-standing by the Dutch authorities according to the European Union regulations. Then, the seed was checked by the agronomists of the Greek Ministry of Agriculture. The claimant bought and sowed potato seed but it did not bring the desirable outcome

Legal Questions:

Who is considered to be a consumer? What does damage mean?

Decision:

The court held that the claimant is not considered to be a consumer of the product; based on the fact that it was not proven that the potato seed he bought and sowed was the same. Moreover, the lack of performance from the seed was not proven to have been caused by a defectiveness and in any case the defendant took all reasonable precautions provided by law in order to make his product safe and suitable for its purpose. Finally, the compensation asked by the defendant refers to the product itself and therefore it cannot be granted.

Comments:

According to the Supreme Court, the consumer is the person that buys and uses the product. A product is defective according to Law 2251/1994 only if it lacks reasonable safety. Finally, the damage for which compensation can be granted due to a defective product can cover only for a) death or physical harm of persons or b) damage in the consumer's property, but not for the damage of the defective product itself. Without the above prerequisites, Law 2251/1994 does not apply but the Civil Code general tort provisions do.

Original text:

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