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 is expected to publish a “comprehensive guidance” on the application of the Directive during the second half of 2019, accompanied by a report on the broader implications for AI, Internet of Things and robotics.