The adjustment of the product liability Directive 85/374/EEC of 25 July to the fourth industrial revolution

Abstract

Liability for defective products was unified at European level with the enactment of Directive 85/374/EEC. This legislation has provided thus far a stable legal framework in which users and consumers have been sufficiently protected and at the same time reasonable legal certainty to encourage innovation. At present, however, progress and new emerging technologies have rendered it obsolete. Its updating is essential so that it can continue to respond adequately and sufficiently to claims for damages caused by defective products. The purpose of this paper is to analyze this new context and the answers that the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on product liability, published by the European Commission on 28 September 2022, gives to the problems arising from this fourth industrial revolution.