Warning Instructions: As Easy as Riding a Bicycle

The Supreme Court has twice addressed the issue of warning instructions on products for sale, and has laid down guiding principles. In both cases, which resulted from accidents with a bicycle and a bottle of sparkling fruit drink respectively, the consumers' claims were rejected.

Pursuant to the court's reasoning, the appropriate scope and content of such instructions is to be determined on a case-by-case basis. In the event that a producer fails to comply with its obligations regarding warning instructions, its product is considered to be defective under Article 5 of the Product Liability Act. Customers must be warned of any dangerous product features and – if relevant – of the consequences of misuse (although this guidance applies only if the producer is expected to be aware that the danger of the feature is likely to be otherwise unknown). The court uses an objective scale of the expectations of a typical product user for its assessments.