Criteria for Identification of "Defects" in Civil Aviation Product Liability

The standards of airworthiness are commonly regarded as the "national standards" which is mentioned in Article 46 of the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China. However, since the airworthiness standards are formulated in light of the air safety regulation, it is inappropriate to introduce them as the basis for the evaluation of the defects in civil litigations. From the perspectives of comparative law and legal functionalism, it is imperative to place the airworthiness standards as the minimal standards of the identification of defects. Therefore, more researches shall be done on the methods for the identification of defects to avoid current onerous dependence of judicial activities on the administrative regulatory standards.