PRODUCT LIABILITY RISK MANAGEMENT AND THE ROLE OF INSURANCE

Liability insurance, as a part of nonlife insurance, has a special role in developed economies. In the area of product liability, risk management as well as insurance emerged relatively recently. The reason lies in the fact that the very existence of this risk has been neglected for a long time. However, in developed economies, first in the USA then in Europe and Japan, more and more attention is being drawn to this risk and to the issue of consumer protection. Despite the underdevelopment of this type of risk management and insurance in Serbia, we think that placing focus on both global and European trends in this area is important. The paper presents two EU Directives related to this area, the available forms of product liability risk protection and characteristics of insurance coverage for this type of risk.