Hugh Preston discusses the effect of the ECJ ‘faulty vaccine’ ruling on the protection of claimants from the ten-year long-stop for claims under the Consumer Protection Act 1987
For claims under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, the ten-year time limit begins to run from the moment the product is “put into circulation” by the producer (Art 11 of Directive 85/374/EEC on Product Liability), and the claimant’s rights under the Directive are “extinguished” unless proceedings have been commenced within time. The court has no discretion to set aside the provisions – s 33 of the Limitation Act 1980 does not apply, and it is irrelevant that the claimant is a patient or a child.
Claimant practitioners are therefore in an invidious position. The product may have been in circulation for years before the damage occurred and there is therefore no immediate way of knowing whether the time limit is about to expire. The n...
