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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.
Essentials – clear and brief
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.
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.
The European Commission has set up an Expert Group to investigate these issues, which is working in two sub-groups:
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.