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Amber Pretty Exercise Essay

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Essay Title A – Amber Pretty exercise

The Consumer Protection Act 1987 was passed to give effect to the Directive. Compare the rights and remedies given by the Act with those available in Contract and Tort. Consider in the light of this comparison whether the Act has succeeded in its main aims.
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Defective products, which cause damage, can give rise to liability and this traditionally arose under the common law. However, the common law approach places the burden on the claimant to establish that the defendant owes a duty to him, was in breach of that duty and that they suffered damages as a result of that breach, and it may not always be straightforward to establish causation, …show more content…

This limitation does not apply to claims in Negligence but in essence a similar position is achieved, as under the narrow rule the duty only covers damage to property and personal injury and not pure economic loss.

DEFENCES

Though the defendant’s liability is strict, it is not absolute as s 4 of the CPA 1987 provides several defences to limit producer liability:

* Section 4(1)(a): The defect found in the product is attributable to compliance with legal requirements. The producer must demonstrate that the defect found complied with the safety standards set out by a regulatory body or complied with EU standards, if imported from outside the EU * Section 4(1)(b): The defendant did not supply the product to another. This can be applicable for mistaken suppliers, counterfeit and stolen goods * Section 4(1)(c): The defendant did not supply the product in the course of a business. The CPA 1987 was ‘designed to impose liability on businesses rather than private individuals’, i.e. a defective product purchased by a private individual from another will have no claim under the CPA * Section 4(1)(d): The defect did not exist when the defendant supplied the product. This defence covers fair wear and tear, misuse of the product and ‘best before’ dates on perishable goods.

Comparatively, Negligence only provides the ‘voluntary assumption of risk’ and ‘contributory negligence’ defences. Under ‘voluntary assumption of risk’, there is opportunity for the

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