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Chapter III — General provisions on liability

Article 12 — Liability of multiple economic operators

  1. Without prejudice to national law concerning rights of contribution or recourse, Member States shall ensure that where two or more economic operators are liable for the same damage pursuant to this Directive, they can be held liable jointly and severally.

  2. A manufacturer that integrates software as a component in a product shall not have a right of recourse against the manufacturer of a defective software component that causes damage where:

    (a) the manufacturer of the defective software component was, at the time of the placing on the market of that software component, a microenterprise or a small enterprise, meaning an enterprise that, when assessed together with all of its partner enterprises as defined in Article 3(2) of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC (21) and linked enterprises as defined in Article 3(3) of that Annex, if any, is a microenterprise as defined in Article 2(3) of that Annex or a small enterprise as defined in Article 2(2) of that Annex; and

    (b) the manufacturer that integrated the defective software component in the product contractually agreed with the manufacturer of the defective software component to waive that right.

Article 13 — Reduction of liability

  1. Without prejudice to national law concerning rights of contribution or recourse, Member States shall ensure that the liability of an economic operator is not reduced or disallowed where the damage is caused both by the defectiveness of a product and by an act or omission of a third party.

  2. The liability of an economic operator may be reduced or disallowed where the damage is caused both by the defectiveness of the product and by the fault of the injured person or any person for whom the injured person is responsible.

Article 14 — Right of recourse

Where more than one economic operator is liable for the same damage, an economic operator that has compensated the injured person shall be entitled to pursue remedies against other economic operators liable pursuant to Article 8 in accordance with national law.

Article 15 — Exclusion or limitation of liability

Member States shall ensure that the liability of an economic operator pursuant to this Directive is not, in relation to the injured person, limited or excluded by a contractual provision or by national law.

Article 16 — Limitation period

  1. Member States shall ensure that a limitation period of three years applies to the initiation of proceedings to claim compensation for damage falling within the scope of this Directive. The limitation period shall run from the day on which the injured person became aware, or should reasonably have become aware, of all of the following:

    (a) the damage;

    (b) the defectiveness;

    (c) the identity of the relevant economic operator that can be held liable for that damage under Article 8.

  2. National law regulating the suspension or interruption of the limitation period referred to in paragraph 1 shall not be affected by this Directive.

Article 17 — Expiry period

  1. Member States shall ensure that an injured person is no longer entitled to compensation pursuant to this Directive upon the expiry of a period of 10 years, unless that injured person has, in the meantime, initiated proceedings against an economic operator that can be held liable pursuant to Article 8. That period shall run from:

    (a) the date on which the defective product which caused the damage was placed on the market or put into service; or

    (b) in the case of a substantially modified product, the date on which that product was made available on the market or put into service following its substantial modification.

  2. By way of exception from paragraph 1, where an injured person has not been able to initiate proceedings within 10 years of the dates referred to in paragraph 1 due to the latency of a personal injury, the injured person shall no longer be entitled to compensation pursuant to this Directive upon the expiry of a period of 25 years, unless that injured person has, in the meantime, initiated proceedings against an economic operator that can be held liable pursuant to Article 8.