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R. KOCH
157
The Impact of the ECJ Judgment in the Joined
Cases Boston Scientific Medizintechnik
GmbH vs. AOK Sachsen-Anhalt and
Betriebskrankenkasse RWE (C-503/13 and
C-504/13) on Product Liability
Dr. Robert Koch,
LL.M. (McGill)
Professor, Chair for private law and insurance law
University of Hamburg, Germany
A. Introduction
In 1989, Ioannis Rokas wrote an article on the implementation of the Product
Liability Directive (PLD)
1
in Greece and its impact on product liability under Greek
law, which was published in the leading German journal on insurance law and
liability law (‘Zeitschrift für Versicherungsrecht, Haftungs- und Schadensrecht‘
(VersR)).
2
In my contribution to this commemorative publication for my friend
Ioannis, whom I have known since 2008, the year of my appointment as the
chairman of the AIDA Marine Insurance Working Party, I would like to somehow
follow up on the PLD and deal with the consequences following from the ECJ
Judgment of 5 March 2015 in the joined Boston Scientific cases
3
for product liability.
B. Background
The proceedings for a preliminary ruling concerned pacemakers and implantable
cardioverter defibrillators (‘defibrillators’) manufactured in the USA and Europe
respectively, and imported and sold in Germany by G GmbH, which later merged
with Boston Scientific Medizintechnik GmbH (‘defendant’). The defendant
1. Council Directive 85/374/EEC of 25 July 1985 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and adminis-
trative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective products, Official Journey 1985
L 210, p. 29.
2. ‘Die Umsetzung der Produkthaftungsrichtlinie der EG - Das Beispiel Griechenland’, VersR 1989, 437-450.
3. ECLI:EU:C:2015:148.