Business Contracts

The obligation to warn is an extension of the obligation to inform, but is more onerous than the latter, since it requires the manufacturer  - who is presumed to know the risks and limits of using its products - and the professional seller  to draw the buyer's attention to the risks involved in using the purchased product. 
The obligation to warn primarily concerns dangerous products  - in particu …

Duty to warn

The obligation to warn is an extension of the obligation to inform, but is more onerous than the latter, since it requires the manufacturer  - who is presumed to know the risks and limits of using its products - and the professional seller  to draw the buyer's attention to the risks involved in using the purchased product. 

The obligation to warn primarily concerns dangerous products  - in particular highly flammable products  or those requiring specific installation to be used safely  -, complex products  and new products .

The manufacturer of a product, which may be potentially harmful, must provide coherent, clear and unambiguous instructions , which must enable the exact conditions of use of the product to be ascertained . Thus, a seller who, as a specialist in plant physiology, is presumed to know the properties of the insecticides he markets, fails in his duty to inform by not warning buyers of the risks presented by the combination of the product with herbicides . On the other hand, the importer of kettles containing a gel-filled pouch with a risk of piercing in the event of overheating is not in breach of his duty to inform, provided that each gel pouch bears a warning concerning cold and hot use of the product, as well as the recommended heating times .

However, the obligation to warn is not unlimited. The manufacturer of a toboggan, whose design and manufacture were in conformity with the manufacturer's instructions, who handed out a sign forbidding users to use the position imposed by the operator, which caused the victim's injury, cannot be held liable for failure to comply with his duty to warn . Similarly, the seller of horse-riding equipment cannot be blamed for failing to warn the parents of the child who was left clinging to the stirrup when he and the horse fell, of the risks involved in horse-riding, of which they could not have been unaware .

Cass. civ. 1re, 13 May 1986, LawLex200500006103JB.

CA Amiens, 8 November 2007, LawLex200800001442JBJ, holding that the professional seller of a tank must, by virtue of his obligation to warn, warn the purchaser, following an initial loss which damaged the tank, of the risks he runs if he uses it under the same conditions.

CA Paris, 27 February 2017, LawLex201700000447JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ, 9 January 2019, LawLex201900001037JBJ.

CA Rennes, 12 December 2002, LawLex200800001439JBJ.

Cass. civ. 1re, 18 June 2014, LawLex201400001138JBJ, finding that the seller does not satisfy its obligation to warn regarding compliance with the technical rules for the installation of a dangerous appliance and the need to have this carried out by a professional or certified person, by the mere handing over of the latter's instructions for use.

Cass. civ. 1re, 11 October 1983, LawLex200500006107JBJ, ruling that the manufacturer of a highly flammable product commits a fault likely to engage its liability when the packaging does not carry a sufficiently explicit warning against the dangers of the product and is not accompanied by any instructions for use.

CA Nancy, 7 January 2013, LawLex201300001099JBJ, installation precautions for a fireplace insert.

CA Montpellier, 25 March 2003, LawLex200800001459JBJ, noting that the manufacturer and seller of complex technical equipment owes both its direct purchaser and its user, when they are not professionals in the same field, a duty of information which requires in particular, when new technical documentation is published shortly after the sale, providing important details on the maintenance conditions of the equipment sold, to bring it to the purchaser's attention.

The manufacturer of a new product is obliged to provide the purchaser, even if he is a professional user of the product, with the information necessary for its use and to inform him, where applicable, of the risks that may result, See Cass. com., 27 November 2019, LawLex202000000012JBJ.  See previously Cass. com., 2 May 1990, LawLex202300007968JBJ; Cass, civ. 1re, May 29 2001, LawLex200800001450JBJ, on the absence of reference to any contraindication to the use of the insecticide Gaucho. See CA Nîmes, 20 February 2003, LawLex200800001474JBJ.

CA Aix-en-Provence, 27 September 2001, LawLex200800001507JBJ.

CA Agen, 21 April 2021, LawLex202100001684JBJ.

Cass. civ. 1re, 29 May 2001, LawLex200800001450JBJ.

Business Contracts

164. Duty to warn

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

164. Duty to warn

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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