Product Liability Directive

Article 1 Subject matter and objective

Establishes that the Directive creates rules for liability of economic operators for harm caused by defective products and compensation mechanisms. It aims to support the internal market's functioning while delivering strong consumer and natural person protection.

Article 2 Scope

This Directive applies to items made available or first used after 9 December 2026. It does not cover free and open-source software created outside commercial contexts, harm from nuclear accidents covered by international treaties, or affect existing EU data protection law, national contractual or non-contractual liability rules, or special liability regimes existing in member state law before 30 July 1985.

Article 3 Level of harmonisation

Member States must not maintain or create national rules that differ from the Directive to achieve stronger or weaker consumer protection, unless the Directive explicitly permits variation.

Article 4 Definitions

Defines 'manufacturer' as one who develops, manufactures or produces a product, has it designed or made, attaches their brand or name to it, or produces it for their own use. Identifies supporting supply chain roles: authorised representatives, importers from third countries, fulfilment service providers offering warehousing, packaging, addressing or dispatching (excluding postal and parcel services), and distributors making products available without owning them. Defines 'economic operator' as any of these actors, plus related service providers.

Article 5 Right to compensation

Any natural person suffering harm from a defective product is entitled to compensation under this Directive. Claims may also be brought by persons who have acquired the injured person's rights through law or contract, or by persons authorised by law to act on behalf of one or more injured individuals.

Article 6 Damage

Compensation covers death or personal injury including recognised psychological harm; damage to or destruction of property except the defective product itself, products damaged by a defective component integrated or interconnected by the manufacturer, and property for professional use only; and data destruction or corruption outside professional use. Material losses from qualifying damage are always compensated; non-material losses are covered only to the extent national law permits. The provision does not affect other national liability regimes.

Article 7 Defectiveness

A product is defective if it lacks expected safety or fails to meet Union or national legal safety requirements. Assessment considers presentation, characteristics, labelling, design, instructions, foreseeable use, learning or feature-acquisition ability, effects of products used together, the moment control ceased, safety rules including cybersecurity, recalls or authority interventions, specific user group needs, and whether purpose-designed products fulfil their protective function. Products are not defective solely because newer or upgraded versions exist.

Article 8 Economic operators liable for defective products

The following parties are liable for damage caused by defective products: the manufacturer; the manufacturer of a defective component if it was integrated into or interconnected with the product within their control; and for foreign manufacturers, the importer, authorised representative, or fulfilment service provider if no importer or representative is established in the Union. Parties who substantially modify a product outside manufacturer control are treated as manufacturers. Distributors become liable if they fail to identify a liable manufacturer within one month of a request from an injured person, unless an identified liable party or online platform operator cannot be held liable, and Member States may establish compensation schemes to cover cases where liable parties cannot satisfy claims.

Article 9 Disclosure of evidence

When a claimant presents facts supporting their compensation claim, defendants must disclose relevant evidence they hold; defendants may similarly require claimants to disclose evidence to counter a claim. Disclosure must be limited to what is necessary and proportionate, considering all parties' legitimate interests including protection of confidential information and trade secrets, with national courts able to take measures preserving confidentiality and requiring accessible presentation of evidence.

Article 10 Burden of proof

A claimant must prove the product's defect, the harm suffered and the connection between them. Defectiveness is presumed when the defendant fails to disclose evidence, the product breaches mandatory safety requirements, or obvious malfunction occurs during foreseeable use; when a product is defective, connection to typical harm is presumed. National courts may also presume defectiveness or causation where claimants face excessive difficulty due to technical complexity but show the defect is likely, though defendants can rebut any presumptions.

Article 11 Exemption from liability

An economic operator escapes liability by proving it did not supply the product, the defect probably did not exist when supplied, the defect resulted from legal compliance, scientific knowledge could not have revealed it, or for component makers or modifiers, the defect is attributable elsewhere. However, liability cannot be avoided for defects involving related services, software or lack of necessary updates, or substantial modifications, when these remain under the manufacturer's control.

Article 12 Liability of multiple economic operators

Where multiple economic operators are liable for the same harm, they may be held jointly and severally liable under national law. A manufacturer integrating defective software made by a microenterprise or small enterprise has no recourse right if contractually waiving it.

Article 13 Reduction of liability

An economic operator's liability is not reduced or disallowed when damage results from both product defectiveness and a third party's act or omission. Liability may be reduced or disallowed where damage is caused by both the product defect and the fault of the injured person or someone they are responsible for. An economic operator that compensated an injured person is entitled to pursue remedies against other liable operators under national law.

Article 15 Exclusion or limitation of liability

Economic operators' liability under this Directive cannot be limited or excluded by contract or national law in relation to the injured person.

Article 16 Limitation period

Proceedings must begin within three years from when the injured person became or reasonably should have become aware of the harm, the defect and the responsible economic operator's identity. National rules on suspending or interrupting this period remain unchanged.

Article 17 Expiry period

Compensation claims expire 10 years after the defective item was supplied or first used, unless proceedings have begun, except where personal injury latency prevented timely action, extending the period to 25 years after supply or first use.

Article 18 Derogation from development risk defence

Member States may preserve or introduce domestic rules holding manufacturers liable for defects even when such defects were not detectable given available knowledge when the product entered the market or was under manufacturer control. States maintaining existing measures must notify the Commission by 9 December 2026, while those creating new measures must justify them as limited to certain product types and proportionate to public interest goals, then notify the Commission and observe a six-month delay for Commission review.

Article 19 Transparency

Member States must publish all final judgments from their appeal and highest courts in product liability cases in an accessible electronic format according to national law. The Commission shall establish and maintain a publicly accessible database of these judgments.

Article 20 Evaluation

The Commission must evaluate this Directive's implementation on 9 December 2030 and thereafter at five-year intervals, reporting to the Parliament, Council and Economic and Social Committee on transposition costs and benefits, comparison with OECD countries, and insurance market availability.

Article 21 Repeal and transitional provision

Directive 85/374/EEC is repealed from 9 December 2026 but continues to govern products supplied or activated before that date. References to the earlier Directive are read as references to this one per the Annex.

Article 22 Transposition

Member States must enact implementing legislation by 9 December 2026 and immediately inform the Commission, with such legislation containing or accompanied by a reference to this Directive in accordance with national publication methods. They must also send the Commission the text of their primary implementing laws.

Article 23 Entry into force

Article 24 Addressees

The Directive is addressed to the Member States. This section also contains citations to the legislative procedure and related EU instruments referenced in the Directive. This part contains additional citations to relevant EU regulations and directives on digital services, trade secrets, medical devices, data governance, postal services and small business definitions that relate to the Directive's scope and implementation.

Article 14 Article 9, first paragraph, point (a)

This is a table correlating articles of the repealed Directive 85/374/EEC to corresponding articles of the current Directive, to facilitate legal references during the transition and after full repeal.