Vol 7 Issue 2 March 2020-April 2020
Dr. EGUTE MATTHEW AMANDONG
Abstract:The paper seeks to establish when corporate bodies could be criminally liable for the manufacturing of defective products or for the supply of poor quality services to consumers in Cameroon. To achieve this, Cameroon in the area of product liability has made conscious efforts through legislation to show when a corporation could be criminally liable for any defective goods and poor quality services put onto the market. The liability is guaranteed by the 2011 Cameroonian Consumer Protection Law and the Penal Code, all of which have expressly provided penal provisions against anyone that intentionally supplies defective goods or poor quality services injurious to the plaintiff’s health or property. The relevant provisions of the law examined were sections 32, 33, 35 and 36 of the 2011 Consumer Protection Law as well as Articles 74, 258, 279, 280 and 281 of the Penal Code. These provisions revealed that corporate criminal responsibility is in two ways, that is, imposition of fine and punishment with imprisonment. In the first place, since a company cannot be put behind bars for adulterating its products, the most convenient direct penalty is fine. With the second class of penalty being imprisonment, since Salomon v. Salomon, it has been understood that a company upon incorporation acquires an identity distinct and separate from that of its shareholders, with separate rights and liabilities and being a fictitious person, a corporation works through its agents in the real world. As such any action in excess of what is provided in the objects clause amounts to an ultra vires act for which the agents or managers will be liable. The punishment preferable here is imprisonment of the directors because no memorandum of association can lawfully authorize a company to commit a crime. For all this to be possible, the constituent elements of mens rea and actus reus were examined while suggestions for reform were made.
Keywords:Cameroonian Consumer Protection Law, corporate bodies, poor quality services.
Title:Corporate Criminal Liability for Defective Products and Poor Quality Services under the Cameroonian Law: A Critical Appraisal
Author:Dr. EGUTE MATTHEW AMANDONG
ISSN 2394-9694
International Journal of Novel Research in Humanity and Social Sciences
Novelty Journals