Krone–Verlag: Don’t blame publishers (under the Product Liability Directive) for inaccurate health tips in their newspapers!

In its judgment of 10 June 2021 in KRONE – Verlag (C-65/20), delivered further to a request for preliminary ruling by the Oberster Gerichtshof (Supreme Court, Austria), the Court of Justice clarified that the notion of ‘defective product’ under the Product Liability Directive(85/374) does not encompass a printed copy of a daily newspaper containing inaccurate information on the use of a plant for paramedical purposes, which, when followed, causes damage to the health of a reader. Consequently, the newspaper’s publisher cannot be held liable under the Directive. The judgment thus contributes to clarify the scope of application of the Product Liability Directive and to draw the line between the regime of liability without fault (strict liability) it sets out and other systems of liability.