Aligning the Product Liability Directive with the circular economy and emerging technologies. Revision of Directive 85/374/EEC

Adopted in 1985, the Product Liability Directive (PLD) introduced a strict, harmonised product liability framework and legal certainty for producers and consumers facing damage caused by defective products. The PLD has co-existed for almost 40 years with national liability rules, offering a fault-based product liability system. The PLD also complements other legal instruments within the EU liability framework that address, for example, contractual liability and product safety. Significant societal change since 1985, leading to new ways to produce, distribute and operate products and services on the internal market, poses challenges for the current EU liability regime.

As the EU is committed to a green and digital transition, which is expected to bring enormous benefits to society and the economy, it is all the more important to update the product liability rules so that the regulatory framework for compensation ensures equal treatment, whether the damage stems from use of emerging technologies or not. On 28 September 2022, the Commission launched a revision of the product liability rules by presenting two separate initiatives. The first is for a directive on liability for defective products. It repeals the existing PLD by adapting the product liability rules to the circular and digital world. The second is a new proposal for a directive on adapting extra-contractual civil liability rules to artificial intelligence, with the aim of creating a harmonised, fault-based civil liability framework for Member States. Both proposals seek to address the challenges identified in the PLD evaluation report, further developed in the white paper on artificial intelligence (AI) and in the report of the Expert Group on liability and new technologies.

The European Parliament has highlighted the need to adapt the EU liability rules in several resolutions, including legislative-initiative resolutions. It has called for a product liability regime to underpin the functioning of the internal market, including a level playing field with adequate legal certainty for all businesses, while ensuring high protection of consumers' health and property. Several other EU institutions have also urged the Commission to update the PLD in order to serve the EU's aspiration to become a leader in green and digital technologies and to achieve climate-neutrality by 2050.

Further information:

This briefing is one in a series of 'implementation appraisals', produced by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), on the operation of existing EU legislation in practice. Each briefing focuses on a specific EU law that is to be amended or reviewed, as envisaged in the European Commission's annual work programme. The briefing aims at providing a succinct overview of publicly available material on  the implementation, application and effectiveness to date of specific EU law, drawing mainly on input from EU institutions and bodies. Implementation appraisal briefings are provided by the Ex-Post Evaluation Unit of EPRS, to assist parliamentary committees.