미국에서 3D 프린팅 안전 문제와 관련 법정책의 검토

The Review of Safety and Relevant Policies of 3D Printing in the US

3D printing has brought many benefits to our society, including the environmental advantages. In particular, 3D printing is significantly efficient in terms of the time, cost, pollution prevention, etc. For example, 3D printing technologies can be used in order to manufacture what is need when it is required. At the same time, however, 3D printing also has potential risks in various ways. Since various technologies and materials can be applied to the 3D printing, the workers or operators could be exposed to some risks in the work places. Therefore, the risks raised in the work places should be closely examined, particularly regarding the risks of safety and health. Recently, it is getting more important to discuss the safety of consumers because 3D printing will be used by them soon. If there are risks concerning 3D printing, consumers should get more information about the safety than other companies. In addition, the development of 3D printing causes various problems in torts liability area. The main issue is to decide whether the existing torts liability can be applied or it should be modified and newly introduced. In this connection, the relevant laws, such as product liability act should be examined. Further, the application of the tort liabilities to 3D printer, the product by 3D printing and the supplier of raw materials should be examined. As a result, the problems related to 3D printing raised by the manufacturers of 3D printer, file sharers in the Internet, suppliers of raw materials, hobbyists and the end users. Additionally, the problems can be caused by printer itself, the product by 3D printing and raw materials. However, the existing laws and policies have exposed the limitations to be applied now. Therefore, the main direction of the laws and policies concerning 3D printing has to be the balance among conflict interests.