The Council has adopted a directive to update the Union’s civil liability law. The new liability rules take into account that nowadays many products have digital features and that the economy is becoming increasingly circular.

Due to technological developments, new circular economy business models, and increasingly global supply chains, the EU has decided to improve its liability regulation. The update also addresses the difficulty that injured individuals face when gathering evidence to demonstrate their liability, especially when it comes to new technologies.
The new product liability rules not only benefit consumers but also encourage the deployment and adoption of new technologies, providing legal clarity and a level playing field for producers.
Main elements
• Digital Economy: The new law expands the definition of a product to include digital manufacturing files and software. Online platforms can also be considered liable for a defective product sold on their platform, just as any other economic operator, if they act in that capacity.
• Circular Economy: When a product is repaired and updated outside of the original manufacturer’s control, the company or person that has modified the product should be held responsible.
• Disclosure of evidence: the right to compensation has been facilitated by ensuring that an injured person seeking compensation before a national court can request access to the relevant evidence held by the manufacturer in order to prove their claim.
• Products purchased from manufacturers outside the EU: According to the new rules, to ensure that consumers are compensated for damages caused by a product manufactured outside the Union, the company importing the product or the EU-based representative of the foreign manufacturer can be considered responsible for the damages.
• Burden of proof: If the injured consumer encounters excessive difficulties in proving the product’s defects or the causal relationship between those defects and the damage, the court may decide that the claimant is only required to demonstrate the probability that the product is defective or that its defects are a probable cause of the damage.
The Directive shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Member States have two years to transpose the directive into their national legislation.
The EU product liability regime was established in 1985. Their objective was to compensate individuals who had suffered physical injuries or property damage as a result of a defective product, merely by proving that a product was defective and that the defect caused the injury or damage.
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