A decision of the Court of Cassation in Joint Sections of 2017 recognized a US sentence that condemned a company to pay “punitive damages” in favour of a consumer. The author starts from the reconstruction of this “tool” in the US common law and analyses the role of the punitive damages in the US food law between obesity lawsuits and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, the US “food agency”. Then he summarizes the Italian debate over the last few years on the role of civil responsibility, highlighting the repercussions on the Italian agri-food system of its “punitive” vision. He concludes that it would be useless for the preservation of the health of the consumers, due to the existence of a strong “precautionary food chain system” in European Food Law, and furthermore that it would be highly counter-productive for italian food production, considering that on the contrary our food companies should be helped in the processes of internationalization in order to give added value to our economy.
I danni punitivi nel settore alimentare
Francesco Bruno
2018-01-01
Abstract
A decision of the Court of Cassation in Joint Sections of 2017 recognized a US sentence that condemned a company to pay “punitive damages” in favour of a consumer. The author starts from the reconstruction of this “tool” in the US common law and analyses the role of the punitive damages in the US food law between obesity lawsuits and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, the US “food agency”. Then he summarizes the Italian debate over the last few years on the role of civil responsibility, highlighting the repercussions on the Italian agri-food system of its “punitive” vision. He concludes that it would be useless for the preservation of the health of the consumers, due to the existence of a strong “precautionary food chain system” in European Food Law, and furthermore that it would be highly counter-productive for italian food production, considering that on the contrary our food companies should be helped in the processes of internationalization in order to give added value to our economy.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
