Product Liability in Greece

Under Greek law the Consumers' law establishes a strict liability regime, i.e. not a fault based one. The producer (and anybody who presents oneself as the producer) is liable for anydamage caused by a defect in his product. In order for a producer to be held liable the pre-requisites are a) a product to be already on the market and proved to be defective, b) damage, c) a causal link between the two. Additional systems providing consumer with greater even protection are contractual liability of art 513-573 of Greek Civil Law Code, tortious liability of art. 914 et al. of Greek Civil Law Code and Criminal liability deriving from L. 4177/2013 as currently in force.

The state does not operate any schemes of compensation for particular products, but under general law the Greek State and organs of the public sector may be found liable to compensate in case of breach of their duties to safeguard the public's interests including consumer interests. This is however difficult tp prove in a Court of law.