From the Precautionary Principle to Product Liability in the Agro-Food Sector: Cross-Border Movement of Goods, Legal Safety, and Innovation in the EU

In view of the increasing internationalization of trade relations, the ‘European regional law’ provides for rules aimed at ensuring a high level of health protection and food safety. It is important to ensure that these rules should not be infringed by those laid down by the operators of the international trade or through the delocalization of agro-food companies. Technological innovation requires an international harmonization of the rules on product liability so as to limit the distortions of competition. The contribution focuses on the application of product liability and traceability to the food realm as mechanisms for health protection and food safety, while underlining the rules which govern the enforcement of these two tools in transnational situations.