L’action de la victime contre l’assureur du producteur

The purpose of the present contribution is to shed light on the extent to which the victims of the so-called « PIP scandal » residing outside the French territory may rely on European Union law so that the insurer of the producer of defective medical devices be ordered to compensate for the damages they have suffered. To this end, this inquiry is divided into two parts. First, it aims at demonstrating that both primary ? i.e. the non-discrimination principle ? and secondary ? i.e. Directive 85/374 ? European Union law are applicable to the facts that gave rise to the PIP scandal. Second, it aims at identifying the legal implications arising from the application of European Union law. The insurer of the producer, when refusing to compensate the victims of PIP, breachs both primary and secondary European Union law. As a result, this breach gives the victims several options to seek compensation.