The Consumer Protection Act 1987 gives a person the right to claim compensation from a product's producer if a defect causes damage, death or personal injury, under a regime of strict liability. Understanding how this applies - and how liability is typically allocated between brand owner and contract manufacturer - matters before you bring a product to market.
Key points
- The Consumer Protection Act 1987 introduced strict liability for damage caused by defective products, implementing the EU product liability directive.
- A product is defective if it fails to meet the safety standard the public is generally entitled to expect when it was placed on the market.
- Strict liability means a claimant doesn't need to prove negligence - if the product was defective and caused harm, the producer is generally liable.
- Defences exist, including that the defect wasn't present when the product was supplied, or that scientific knowledge at the time couldn't have identified the defect.
- Claims are generally subject to a three-year limitation period from the date of damage or knowledge of it, with a ten-year longstop from when the product was put into circulation.
What This Regulation Requires
The Consumer Protection Act 1987 establishes strict liability for a product's "producer" where a defect causes damage, death or personal injury - meaning the injured party doesn't need to prove fault, only that the product was defective and caused the harm.
Who It Applies To
Liability under the Act generally falls on the "producer" of the product, which can include the manufacturer, an "own-brander" who puts their name on the product as if they made it, or the importer bringing it into the UK - this is a key reason to clarify liability allocation explicitly in your contract manufacturing agreement, particularly for private-label products.
What This Means for Contract Manufacturing
Discuss and document how product liability is allocated between you and your manufacturer in your supply agreement, including insurance requirements and indemnities - see supply agreements and private-label chemical products, since "own-brander" liability is particularly relevant if the product carries your brand rather than the manufacturer's.
Who a Customer Can Pursue
Liability for a defective product does not necessarily rest with whoever physically made it. A business placing a product on the market under its own name generally carries responsibility to its customers for that product, whoever manufactured it - which means a brand owner cannot usually deflect a customer claim by pointing at the contract manufacturer.
What the arrangement between you and your manufacturer does determine is whether you can recover from them afterwards. That is a matter of contract - indemnities, liability caps, insurance requirements - and it operates separately from your exposure to the customer. The practical consequence is that a claim may land with you first and be resolved with your manufacturer second, which is a cashflow and reputational reality worth planning for.
Where the Fault Lies Matters
Defects can originate in different places, and the allocation of responsibility usually follows the source. A manufacturing defect - a batch made incorrectly, contaminated, or not to specification - points to the manufacturer. A design defect, where the product was made exactly as specified but the specification itself was inadequate, points to whoever developed it. A failure to warn adequately points to whoever was responsible for labelling and the safety data sheet.
This is why traceability, batch records and retained samples matter commercially as well as technically. They are the evidence that establishes which category a problem falls into, and without them the argument is unresolvable.
Practical Steps
Address liability explicitly in the supply agreement: indemnities for defects arising from manufacture, evidence of the manufacturer's product liability insurance and its limits, and a clear position on who bears recall costs. Check that insurance limits bear some relation to the potential exposure - a modest policy behind a product used at scale offers less protection than its presence suggests. This is an area where legal advice is worth taking.
Related Pages
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the contract manufacturer always the liable "producer" under the Act?
Not necessarily - if you brand the product as your own, you may be treated as an "own-brander" and share or hold liability, so this needs to be clarified and allocated explicitly in your agreement rather than assumed to sit entirely with the manufacturer.
Can a manufacturer ever avoid liability for a defective product?
Yes, in limited circumstances - available defences include showing the defect wasn't present when supplied, or that the state of scientific knowledge at the time couldn't have identified it, among others set out in the Act.
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Search the DirectoryLast reviewed: August 2026. Regulation and guidance change — verify anything you rely on against the primary source. Tell us if something here is out of date.