Product Quality and the Criminal Law

When considering product quality, focus on the civil law as the means of obtaining consumer redress should not blind one to appreciation that the criminal law also has a useful role to play. Even in circumstances in which physical harm to the consumer has not occurred, economic detriment can be sufficient for the quality of a product to be questioned in the context of not only civil but also criminal proceedings. This article uses the example of English law to explore the rationales for regulation of product quality backed by criminal sanctions, and shows how there may be overlaps but also divergences in the scope of coverage of civil and criminal laws.