FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Jussi Laasonen and Saara Järvinen, Ruoholahti Law
under EU Representative Actions Directive (EU) 2020/1828. Class actions could, in principle, be suitable for prod - uct liability cases. However, in practice, no class actions have been brought in Finland since the Act on Class Actions entered into force. Co-Ordinated Proceedings In Finland, several product liability cases may be joined and heard in the same proceedings in accord - ance with the general procedure rules. The prerequisites are that the actions have been brought in the same court, the court is competent to consider the actions to be joined, and the actions may be considered according to the same procedure. 2.17 Summary of Significant Recent Product Liability Claims In recent years, only one decision concerning product liability has been issued by the Supreme Court of Fin - land, namely KKO 2023:8. The case is particularly sig - nificant because the Supreme Court made a request for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The CJEU delivered its ruling on 7 July 2022 in Keskinäinen vakuutusyhtiö Fennia , C-264/21 (EU:C:2022:536). The case concerned a fire caused by a defective cof - fee maker. An insurance company compensated the consumer for the damage caused by the fire under a home insurance policy, as a result of which the con - sumer’s right to claim compensation for product liabil - ity was transferred to the insurance company. The coffee maker had been manufactured in Roma - nia by an Italian company, B, which was a subsidiary owned by a Dutch company, A. The coffee maker and its packaging bore the names “Philips” and “Saeco”, which were trade marks registered to A. According to the insurance company, A was liable for the prod - uct liability claim because it owned shares in B and because the coffee maker bore A’s trade marks. Fur - thermore, the insurance company argued that the cof - fee maker had been marketed on A’s Finnish-language website.
The district court held that A had marketed the coffee maker bearing its trade marks in Finland and found A liable for the damage caused by the defect in the product. By contrast, the court of appeal held that it had not been proven that A had marketed the coffee maker as its own in Finland and therefore found that A was not liable for the product damage. The issue before the Supreme Court was whether A had mar - keted the coffee maker bearing its trade marks as its own within the meaning of the Product Liability Act. The CJEU held in its preliminary ruling that Article 3 (1) of Directive 85/374/EEC must be interpreted as mean - ing that the concept of “producer” does not require that the person who has affixed their name, trade mark or other distinguishing feature to the product, or allowed it to be affixed, must also present themselves as the manufacturer in some other way. In its judgment, the Supreme Court concluded that A had marketed the product as its own within the mean - ing of the Product Liability Act, as the coffee maker bore its trade mark. The Supreme Court held that A was liable for the damage suffered by the insurance company, provided that the other conditions for liabil - ity were met. 3. Recent Policy Changes and Outlook 3.1 Trends in Product Liability and Product Safety Policy Product Liability The EU has reformed product liability legislation through the new Product Liability Directive (EU) 2024/2853, adopted on 23 October 2024. The Direc - tive must be implemented in the member states by 9 December 2026 at the latest. Under the new Directive, the concept of a “product” in product liability legislation will henceforth refer to all movable items, regardless of whether they are inte - grated into or connected to another movable item or immovable property, as well as electricity, digital manufacturing files, raw materials, and software. Excluded from the scope of the Directive are free and open-source software developed or supplied outside the scope of commercial activities, as well as damage
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