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Erschienen in:
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2024 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

Civil Liability for Self-Driving Cars in Dutch Law

verfasst von : Eric Tjong Tjin Tai

Erschienen in: Autonomous Vehicles and Civil Liability in a Global Perspective

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the Dutch rules on civil liability for accidents involving traditional cars and self-driving cars. In Dutch law, various parties may be liable in the case of accidents with a self-driving car: the owner or keeper, the driver, the possessor, the manufacturer, the car mechanic. In practice, the owner or keeper will primarily be held liable as art. 185 WVW imposes strict liability for all accidents, even for self-driving cars. As insurance companies will cover the damages for such accidents, they may take recourse on car manufacturers on the basis of product liability or negligence. The driver (who is usually also covered by the car insurance) may also be liable on the basis of negligence if he could and should have intervened to prevent an accident. In the case of level 4 or 5 cars, the main issue is whether the courts will allow a driver to not pay attention continuously.

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Vorheriges Kapitel Italian Civil Liability Applicable to Self-Driving Cars
Nächstes Kapitel The Civil Liability for Self-Driving Cars in Austria
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Fußnoten
1
See generally on this provision Sieburgh (2019), nrs. 273–294; van Dam (2020), nrs. 602–610. On the relation to self-driving cars and the entire framework of liability law see, besides the literature refered to later, van Wees (2004), Van Wees (2010), Engelhard (2017), Engelhard and De Bruin (2018), Vellinga (2014), and extensively Vellinga (2020a).
 
2
Art. 5:1 BW (Burgerlijk Wetboek, the Dutch Civil Code).
 
3
Art. 1(3) WVW. See art. 36 WVW on the license plate registration.
 
4
This follows from art. 1(2) WVW, see also Sieburgh (2019), nr. 281. See Sect. 2.3 for the meaning of ‘possessor’.
 
5
In Dutch this reads ‘onder zich heeft’, which means that the person has direct physical control over the object, such as when the car is parked somewhere but you have the car key. The ‘keeper’ in this context is more restricted than the general concept of ‘keeper’ in the Dutch civil code (cf. art. 3:108 BW), where a person in short-term control also may qualify as a keeper.
 
6
Art. 1(1)(o) WVW. An example of the last category is a parent lending his car to his child indefinitely.
 
7
Sieburgh (2019), nr. 281.
 
8
HR 31 January 1992, NJ 1992/319.
 
9
HR 2 December 1966, NJ 1967/42 (Herring stand).
 
10
‘aannemelijk’ in Dutch. In practice it may be hard to make force majeure ‘plausible’, even though it seems to imply a lower standard than proving force majeure.
 
11
For instance if it has not become clear what caused the accident: HR 17 November 2000, NJ 2001/260.
 
12
HR 16 april 1942, NJ 1942/394, see Sieburgh (2019), nr. 282.
 
13
Sieburgh (2019), nr. 283.
 
14
Sieburgh (2019), nr. 284, Rutten and Oskam (2016), Lavrijsen and Weitering (2019).
 
15
Cf. art. 185(2) WVW.
 
16
Sieburgh (2019), nr. 285. E.g. HR 1 June 1990, NJ 1991/720, HR 31 May 1991, NJ 1991/721, HR 2 June 1995, NJ 1997/700, HR 17 November 2000, NJ 2001/260. These cases have to do with contributory negligence and force majeure in turn, but the end result is the 100%-rule described in the main text.
 
17
Sieburgh (2019), nr. 286. E.g. HR 28 February 1992, NJ 1993/566, HR 14 July 2000, NJ 2001/417.
 
18
An example is HR 30 March 2007, NJ 2008/64: a dark-skinned person crossing an unlit road at night in dark clothes.
 
19
Art 185(4) WVW explicitly allows concurrent actions on other grounds.
 
20
About the liability towards passengers see van Dam (2020), nr. 612.
 
21
Named after the leading case HR 5 November 1965, NJ 1966/136, about a visitor to a pub falling down a cellar hatch.
 
22
HR 26 March 1982, NJ 1982/292 (Wenmakers/Smeets), van Dam (1985), p. 261; van Dam (2020), nr. 611-1.
 
23
This is similar to the notion of scope of the rule, Schutzzweck.
 
24
HR 11 November 1983, NJ 1984/331 (deer crossing road).
 
25
Art. 6:162(3) BW.
 
26
For example HR 19 December 2008, NJ 2009/28 (Smeets/Heerlen).
 
27
A possessor is a person in a position of a keeper (having control of the car) and also claiming to be owner (art. 3:107 Burgerlijk Wetboek, Dutch Civil Code). This distinguished it from a keeper who acknowledges that someone else is owner (such as a driver who has rented the car).
 
28
See further Bauw (2015).
 
29
Since the manufacturer is liable in these cases on the basis of product liability.
 
30
€ 500, see Sect. 2.4.
 
31
Tjong Tjin Tai and Boesten (2016), pp. 657–664, s. 4.5.
 
32
Formerly Art. 1384 Cc 1804.
 
33
Tjong Tjin Tai (2017), pp. 123–132, s. 7; Tjong Tjin Tai (2018), pp. 55–82; Viney et al. (2013).
 
34
Tjong Tjin Tai and Boesten (2016), pp. 657–664, s. 4.5; Tjong Tjin Tai (2017), pp. 123–132, s. 7.
 
35
Lavrijsen and Weitering (2019), pp. 167–171; van Wees (2015b), pp. 170–180, s. 3.4; van Wees (2015a), pp. 313–321, s. 4.3; Van Wees (2018); Schreuder (2014), s. 2.1.2; de Vey Mestdagh and Lubbers (2015), pp. 267–280, s. 3.2.3; Vellinga (2020b), pp. 66–71.
 
36
Vellinga (2020b), pp. 66–71 mentions different opinions.
 
37
Schreuder (2014), s. 2.1.1; van Wees (2015b), pp. 170–180, s. 3.3; de Vey Mestdagh and Lubbers (2015), pp. 275–276; Vellinga and Vellinga (2015); Tjong Tjin Tai and Boesten (2016), pp. 657–664; Vellinga (2020b), pp. 66–71.
 
38
Sieburgh (2019), nr. 267.
 
39
In earlier case law this was not too quickly assumed: van Dam (2020), nr. 609.
 
40
HR 2 December 2011, NJ 2012/197, HR 25 November 2005, NJ 2009/103, about facts occurring before product liability was established in the code.
 
41
Vellinga (2020b), pp. 66–71.
 
42
See also van Wees (2016), pp. 29–34; van Dam (2020), nr. 602-2.
 
43
Wet Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering Motorrijtuigen, Car Liability Insurance Act.
 
44
Art. 2(1) WAM refers to the possessor (bezitter) and the person in whose name the license plate has been registered (which will usually be the owner). These are the same persons who may be liable for accidents under art. 1(2) WVW. The difference here is that both have a duty to arrange insurance for the car, while art. 1(2) WVW provides for an alternative liability.
 
45
Art. 2(2) WAM. Keeper (houder) is defined in art. 2(2) WAM in the same way as in art. 1(1)(o) WVW. The text suggests that the owner remains obliged to arrange car insurance even when there is a keeper.
 
46
Art. 3 WAM.
 
47
The Waarborgfonds Motorverkeer, see art. 23–26 WAM. The fund obtains its means by mandatory contributions by car insurance companies operating in The Netherlands, art. 24 WAM.
 
48
Lavrijsen and Weitering (2019), pp. 167–171, s. 5.
 
49
See also 185(2) WVW which could be applied by analogy.
 
50
Art. 6:99 and 102 BW.
 
51
Art. 6:102 and 101(2) BW.
 
52
Cf. art. 6:101(2) BW.
 
53
The Dutch law of civil procedure provides the victim with an action that may allow him access to such data (the ‘exhibitieplicht’ of art. 843a Wetboek van Burgerlijke rechtsvordering, Dutch Code of Civil Procedure). This is somewhat similar to the American instrument of ‘discovery’.
 
54
A duty to pay attention at all times is also laid down in art. 8(6) Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, ratified for The Netherlands, see Tractatenblad 1974, 35.
 
55
Dutch Safety Board (2019).
 
56
Staatsblad 2019/240, entry into force of Law of 28 September 2018, Stb. 2018/347. See also Stb. 2018/479 on changes in the rules for admission of licensed cars to private roads, and Vellinga, Vellinga and Van Wees 2016 on earlier developments.
 
57
See the parliamentary history, Kamerstukken II 2017-2018, 34 838, nr. 3, p. 3.
 
58
Kamerstukken II 2017-2018, 34 838, nr. 3, pp. 7 and 10.
 
59
Kamerstukken II 2017-2018, 34 838, nr. 3, pp. 15–16.
 
60
Kamerstukken II 2017-2018, 34 838, nr. 3, pp. 16, 21.
 
61
Kamerstukken II 2017-2018, 34 838, nr. 3, p. 16.
 
62
See also art. 8(1) Vienna Convention on Road Traffic that states that moving vehicles must have a driver. Vellinga (2020b), pp. 66–67 argues for adaptation of the Convention definition.
 
63
For human drivers this is already standing practice: a owner/driver who causes an accident has to pay higher insurance premiums than other drivers, which premium is reduced according to the number of accident-free years.
 
64
It should be pointed out that the mere fact that a level 5 car would be admitted on Dutch roads is not a defence against liability on the basis of negligence. A license does not block a claim on the basis of negligence: HR 10 March 1972, ECLI:NL:HR:1972:AC1311, NJ 1972/278 (Vermeulen/Lekkerkerker), HR 21 October 2005, ECLI:NL:HR:2005:AT8823, NJ 2006/418 (Ludlage/Van Paradijs).
 
65
HR 22 November 1974, NJ 1975/149, Tjong Tjin Tai (2007), pp. 2540–2546.
 
66
This might be deduced as a residual duty of care, as has been assumed in the case of giving a dangerous object in custody, HR 29 April 2011, NJ 2011/406 (Melchemie/Delbanco).
 
67
Tjong Tjin Tai (2007), pp. 2540–2546 cf. HR 27 November 2015, NJ 2016/245.
 
68
It can be argued that the car is defective as it should have detected (and be able to detect) the adverse weather conditions and refused to drive in such circumstances.
 
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Metadaten
Titel
Civil Liability for Self-Driving Cars in Dutch Law
verfasst von
Eric Tjong Tjin Tai
Copyright-Jahr
2024
Buch
Autonomous Vehicles and Civil Liability in a Global Perspective

Print ISBN: 978-3-031-41991-1

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-41992-8

Copyright-Jahr: 2024

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41992-8_16