Essentials – clear and brief

Product Liability

The Product Liability Directive 85/374/EEC applies to any product marketed in the European Economic Area (EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and establishes an EU-wide regime under which the producer is liable if a product is defective and causes injury or damage to consumers.

Why

In its latest yearly report (May 2018) on the application of the Directive, the European Commission concluded “the Product Liability Directive continues to be an adequate tool.” However, it also acknowledged that the Directive is not perfect and that given the ubiquity of digital products and services now available to consumers or forming part of the supply chain, “its effectiveness is hampered by concepts, such as ‘product’, ‘producer’, ‘defect’ or ‘damage’, that could be more effective in practice.”

Technological revolution affecting consumer products, exponential developments in hardware and software engineering, the rapid take-up of digital marketing, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, robotics and cybersecurity inter alia, require the concepts on which the Directive was drafted to be re-evaluated.

How

The European Commission has set up an Expert Group to investigate these issues, which is working in two sub-groups:

  • The 'product liability formation' to provide expertise and assistance to the Commission in drawing up guidance on the Directive;
  • The 'new technologies formation' to assess the implications of emerging digital technologies for the wider liability frameworks at EU and national level.

Where do we stand

The European Commission conducted a first consultation in July 2021 and gathered feedback regarding its roadmap on the revision of the Product Liability Directive. It opened a second targeted public consultation in October 2021. EJF contributed to both those consultations.

In September 2022, the European Commission published a proposal for revising the Product Liability Directive. The proposal aims at modernising the existing EU harmonized regime on no fault-based liability for manufacturers of defective products and allow national courts to presume key elements of a claim for damages in a wide range of circumstances, leading to a de facto reversal of the burden of proof.

The Draft Report of the European Parliament's co-rapporteurs Vlad Botos (RO, Renew Europe, IMCO committee) and Pascal Arimont (BE, EPP, JURI committee) will be voted in Plenary on 10th July 2023

The Trilogue is expected to be finished some weeks before the European Parliament elections in May 2024.

Topics

Representative Actions

One of the main objectives of the European Commission through this proposal is to allow each and every EU citizen to have compensatory collective redress tools at national level.

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Members

Join EJF

Our services are based on three main pillars: policy and legal intelligence, research and academic input, and communication of key messages.

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Mission

Goals

EJF’s goal is to ensure that the Directive on Representative Actions will build a coherent and harmonized civil redress system architecture in Europe.

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Recent

Latest News

The European industry is deeply concerned about the proposed revision of the PLD. EJF and other European organizations have published an Industry Statement stating that the proposed revision, as it stands, could disrupt the balance between consumer protection and business interests, potentially leading to a culture of litigation in Europe. This imbalance would not only affect companies but also consumers: innovations could become too risky, and rising legal cost exposure might result in a cost spiral making products and services more expensive (social inflation).

The proposed changes to the directive may eliminate existing safeguards and create a litigation-friendly environment, increasing the legal risks and complexity for European businesses, especially smaller companies. The primary beneficiaries of these changes would be lawyers and third-party litigation funders, not consumers.

Moreover, there are questions over the expansion of the Directive to cover digital products, shifting the burden of proof, and its disclosure of evidence provisions, all of which pose significant challenges for businesses. We urge European policymakers to reconsider these measures and strike a balance that modernizes product liability without undermining innovation and legal certainty.

Read the full statement here.

 

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