Car Owner's Guide to Vehicle Repair and Rights Protection

Author: Safety
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: 3. Types of Harm Caused by Product Quality
The Chapter 4 of the Product Quality Law provides specific regulations on compensation for damages, from which it can be seen that the harm in product quality liability mainly includes personal injury, property damage, and mental damage.
(1) Personal Injury. Personal injury refers to the damage to a victim's body and health caused by unreasonable risks to personal and property safety due to the presence of defects in products. Examples include injuries to limbs, disability, loss of limbs, as well as physical and mental illnesses, and death. This includes direct and indirect losses. Direct losses primarily manifest as medical expenses, living allowances for disabled persons, and other costs for the victims; indirect losses primarily manifest as income losses for the victims. According to Article 44 of China's Product Quality Law, if a product defect causes personal injury to a victim, the infringer shall compensate for medical expenses, nursing fees, income lost due to absence from work, living allowances for disabled persons, and other costs. If the victim dies, the infringer shall also pay funeral expenses, death compensation, and the necessary living expenses for dependents of the deceased. It should be noted that personal injury here includes harm to the consumer who purchased and used the product as well as harm to third parties. For example, if two people, A and B, are watching TV in A's home and the TV suddenly explodes, the debris causes both A and B to be injured. Both A and B should receive compensation.
(2) Property Damage. Property damage refers to the loss of the defective product itself and the property damage caused by the defective product. The property damage outside the defective product also includes harm to the property of the consumer who purchased and used the product and harm to the property of third parties. Article 44, Paragraph 2 of the Product Quality Law states: "If a product defect causes property loss to a victim, the infringer shall restore the original state or compensate with a discount. If the victim suffers other significant losses due to this, the infringer shall compensate for the losses." Generally, direct material losses caused by product defects are obvious and can be manifested after a damage incident, representing actual losses that can be calculated in monetary terms. Indirect losses caused by product defects must be economic losses that directly result from material damage to be compensated. Therefore, for property damage under the Product Quality Law, both the manufacturer and seller of the defective product shall bear legal liability for the damage compensation. As for the loss of the defective product itself, Article 40 of the Product Quality Law provides specific regulations. This type of property loss is generally treated as a breach of contract loss and does not fall under product infringement damage.
(3) Mental Damage. Mental damage refers to the mental suffering and emotional trauma caused to victims by defective products. It is also known as non-property damage, referring to mental and physical pain that lacks property value. Regarding mental damage, the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of Laws in Handling Personal Injury Compensation Cases states in Article : "If the claimant sues for compensation for property loss and mental damage due to infringement on life, health, or body, the People's Court shall accept the case." Article 18 stipulates: