Product Liability Directive
In plain wordsThe EU law that lets people claim compensation, without proving anyone was careless, when a defective product injures them — rewritten in 2024 so that software and AI count as products.
Directive (EU) 2024/2853 on liability for defective products, which replaces the EU's 1985 directive and makes manufacturers and others in the supply chain liable, without proof of fault, when a defective product causes death or personal injury (including medically recognized harm to psychological health), damage to property, or the loss or corruption of data not used for professional purposes. It expressly treats software, including AI systemsAI system, n.: A complete piece of technology that uses AI to do something, such as screening loan applications, driving a car or chatting with customers, including the AI model and the software around it., as a product, while excluding free and open-source software supplied outside commercial activity. In judging defectiveness, courts consider a product's ability to keep learning or acquire new features after release, and manufacturers remain liable for defects caused by software updates or upgrades within their control or by the lack of necessary security updates. Courts may order defendants to disclose evidence and may presume defectiveness or causation where technical or scientific complexity makes proof excessively difficult. It applies to products placed on the market after 9 December 2026.
Under the new Product Liability Directive, a faulty update to the vehicle's driving software can make its maker liable.
Origin
Proposed by the European Commission on 28 September 2022, together with a separate AI Liability Directive on fault-based claims; adopted on 23 October 2024. The Commission announced the withdrawal of the AI Liability Directive in February 2025, leaving the revised Product Liability Directive as the EU's main liability instrument for AI.
Usage note
Covers harm to individuals, not purely economic loss or discrimination, which fall to national tort law and other EU rules. See AI liabilityAI liability, n.: Who has to pay or answer in court when an AI system causes harm — the company that built it, the business that used it or the person who relied on it — and under which laws. for the wider debate.
Related
- AI liabilityAI liability, n.: Who has to pay or answer in court when an AI system causes harm — the company that built it, the business that used it or the person who relied on it — and under which laws.
- EU AI ActEU AI Act, prop. n.: The European Union's law on artificial intelligence, the first broad AI law anywhere: it bans some uses, sets strict checks for risky ones and puts duties on the makers of the biggest AI models.
- AI systemAI system, n.: A complete piece of technology that uses AI to do something, such as screening loan applications, driving a car or chatting with customers, including the AI model and the software around it.
- open-source AIopen-source AI, n.: AI released, ideally with its code and details of its training data and not just the finished model, so that anyone may use, inspect, alter, share and even rebuild it. How open is open enough is debated.
- General Data Protection RegulationGeneral Data Protection Regulation, prop. n.: The European Union's main privacy law, in force since 2018, which controls how personal information is collected and used — including to train and run AI systems.
Sources
- Directive (EU) 2024/2853 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2024 on liability for defective products and repealing Council Directive 85/374/EEC. eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/2853/oj
Defined in law or standards
Directive (EU) 2024/2853, Art. 4(1) ('product', including software); open-source exclusion Art. 2(2); damage Art. 6(1); defectiveness Art. 7(2)(c); disclosure Art. 9; presumptions Art. 10(4); updates Art. 11(2)