The Consumer Protection Act will have a major influence on
product liability matters. The main aim of this Act is to protect the consumer
and introduces the legal principle of strict liability, which will entail that
the producer, distributor, retailer and importer will in future only be able to
rely on certain defences as stipulated in the Act. It will not be necessary in
future for the plaintiff to prove that, among other things, the manufacturer
was negligent when it manufactured the product. Furthermore, the Act does not
only deal with goods, but also with services rendered.
Product liability claims are an inevitable thorn in the flesh of
manufacturing industries. We have dealt with product liability claims on behalf
of our major manufacturing clients over a long period of time and we have
substantial experience in this field dealing with claims of individual
consumers, which can generally be successfully negotiated or appropriately
discouraged to substantial claims which include the risk of adverse
publicity.
