제조물 결함의 유형과 판단기준에 관한 고찰

Abstract

The Koran Product Liability Act has a comprehensive definition of the term 'defect', which means the lack of safety that the product ordinarily should provide. It also includes three basic types of defects which may call for different treatment: manufacturing defects, design defects and warning defects. The defect type 'manufacturing defect,' as a strict non-negligence liability, is not so difficult to judge since it is based on consistency between the actual product and the design. However, as for ‘design defects’ and 'warning defects', they are not so easy to judge since they are dependent upon the existence of a reasonable alternative design and reasonable instructions or warnings. It will be said to be fair to operate ‘design defects’ in a direction that a reasonable alternative design in question should be judged according to risk-utility test, the alternative design presented by the victim is presumed to be reasonable so long as there are no special circumstances, considering that the victim is less familiar than the manufacturer with the product, and that the manufacturer's reasonableness is being contested. ‘Warning defects’ should also be judged according to a risk-utility test, and recently a variety of methods have been developed and utilized to warn of the product's risk, and this can be considered to be a kind of social trend.