News 2025/10/14

Ensuring coherence between the Product Liability Directive (PLD) and EU digital legislation

As the EU advances its Digital Package initiative to simplify and align digital regulation, EJF released a paper outlining how the Product Liability Directive (PLD) can be better integrated into the EU’s wider digital framework. The objective is to improve legal coherence, reduce administrative duplication, and maintain effective consumer protection.

The revised PLD already functions as a digital law, extending liability to software, AI, and connected services. However, it has evolved separately from other EU digital legislation, creating overlapping obligations and inconsistencies.

EJF has identified key provisions where targeted clarifications and guidance could improve predictability and legal certainty across digital laws:

Evidence disclosure (Article 9): Link PLD disclosure obligations to existing EU compliance repositories (“provide once, use many times”) to avoid duplication;
Presumptions of defect and causation (Article 10): Ensure compliance with EU safety and digital regulation can rebut presumptions of defect or causation, providing greater legal certainty for businesses;
Consistent terminology: Harmonise definitions of “product” and “service” across digital legislation, to avoid litigation risks and enhance consistency;
Expiry period (Article 17): Clarify the application of the 25-year limitation period to digital products, to maintain proportionality and avoid unintended costs and barriers to innovation;
Consistent national implementation: Promote coherence across Member States’ interpretation by issuing harmonised interpretative guidance or clarifying recitals through this initiative to prevent fragmentation and forum shopping.

The Digital Fitness Check offers a chance to assess the overall coherence and impact of EU digital legislation. EJF’s recommendations call for integrating the PLD into this process to help the Commission identify overlaps, clarify evidentiary links, and ensure liability rules evolve consistently with other digital acts, creating a more balanced and innovation-friendly framework for consumers and businesses alike.

Access the full paper here.

2025-10-14_EJF Position Paper_PLD_Digital Package.pdf (164.7 KiB)

News 2025/10/16

EJF commissions landmark ECIPE study on the Economic Impact of Mass Litigation and Third-Party Funding in Ireland

The European Justice Forum has commissioned a major new study by the Brussels-based think tank ECIPE – the European Centre for International Political Economy – analysing the growing economic and policy implications of mass litigation and third-party litigation funding (TPLF) in Ireland.

The report, published today, ‘Mass Litigation and the Future of Litigation Funding in Ireland and Europe’, provides the first empirical assessment of how large-scale, investor-driven legal actions could affect Ireland’s economy, competitiveness, and innovation. It highlights potential annual costs of between €1.2 and €3.6 billion and calls for clear, proportionate regulation to ensure that access to justice is not distorted into a commercial investment product.

EJF commissioned the report to support an evidence-based dialogue on how collective redress and litigation funding can be managed transparently and fairly - protecting consumers, businesses, and the broader economy alike.

EJF believes that a balanced and transparent civil justice system is essential to Europe’s competitiveness and welcomes the study as an important contribution to that debate.

Access the full report below and read our LinkedIn post here.

News 2025/07/18

European Justice Forum celebrates 20th anniversary at Dublin Members Meeting

On 18 June, EJF held its Members Meeting in Dublin, kindly hosted by one of its members, Experian, bringing together in-person and online participants for a special milestone event marking EJF's 20th anniversary. It was also formally announced that Simon Neill (Johnson & Johnson) would replace Moya Stevenson (SwissRe) as EJF Chair from 1 July. The Members thanked Moya for her leadership and dedication over the past five years.

The agenda addressed key legal and regulatory developments impacting the future of civil justice in Europe. It included an update on the transposition of the Representative Actions Directive (RAD), with a focus on recent developments in Spain and France, followed by a presentation by Prof. Stefaan Voet (KU Leuven) on the broader collective redress landscape in Europe, including developments around the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Directive and jurisdictional reform under the Brussels I bis Regulation. Moreover, Professor Christopher Hodges (Oxford University) shared insights from the UK Civil Justice Council’s (CJC) report on Third-Party Litigation Funding in the UK, highlighting broad recommendations to improve oversight and access to justice.

During the second part of the meeting, the participants discussed different perspectives and policy solutions to address the risks and opportunities posed by TPLF. Prof. Voet provided an overview of the findings from the recent European Commission’s Mapping Study on TPLF, which highlighted fragmented national approaches and explored three different regulatory options, noting the Commission is adopting a “wait-and-see” approach. From a policy perspective, Herbert Woopen (EJF's Legal Expert) presented concrete solutions to improve competition, transparency and fairness in litigation funding. Justice Maurice Collins and Justice Eileen Roberts, from the Irish Law Reform Commission, offered a national perspective on Ireland’s evolving legal context, including the prohibition on litigation funding, and outlined the Commission’s ongoing reflections on the appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks to address the gap.

The meeting concluded with a presentation by Elizabeth-Anne Larsen and Leonard Böhmer (CMS) on recent updates concerning the implementation of the revised Product Liability Directive (PLD) and the evolving framework around artificial intelligence (AI) regulation in Europe.

The day ended with a dinner, giving participants an opportunity to continue exchanging views and reflections in a more informal setting.

The EJF team thanks all attendees for their active engagement and contributions, which made the event a meaningful celebration of EJF’s 20th anniversary!

News 2025/05/19

Towards an EU regulatory framework on Third-Party Litigation Funding (TPLF)

As third-party litigation funding (TPLF) rapidly expands across Europe, the European Justice Forum has released a new policy brief outlining a clear way forward: a harmonised EU regulatory framework to safeguard judicial systems, protect consumers and businesses, and support the EU’s economic resilience and competitiveness.

Building on international best practices and independent research, the paper presents a balanced, four-pillar approach to contribute to the policy debate on how to best regulate TPLF:

Transparency: Mandatory disclosure of funders, funding sources, and redacted agreements to all parties, with unredacted versions to courts. Funders should be subject to authorisation, registration, and supervision.
Protection of claimants’ rights: joint liability for adverse costs, minimum capital requirements, no funder control over case strategy or outcomes, and minimum payouts to claimants with caps on funder and intermediary fees.
Ethical standards: Prohibition of funding arrangements with conflicts of interest, and fiduciary duties requiring funders to act in the best interests of claimants/beneficiaries.
Harmonized regulatory framework: Consistent application of these rules across all mass litigation and arbitration to prevent circumvention and ensure legal certainty in the EU.

These recommendations reflect growing political momentum, supported by the European Parliament’s 2022 resolution and calls from European industry groups, and are grounded in recent research by ECIPE, the European Law Institute , and EJF itself.

Ultimately, EJF’s brief underscores that responsible regulation can both protect consumers and judicial integrity and preserve Europe’s legal and economic systems. By acting now, the EU can set a global standard for litigation funding that strengthens, rather than compromises, access to justice.

Read the full policy brief below.

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