Digital Law Up(to)date: Launch of a public consultation to modernise the European liability rules
In this blog, we briefly present an initiative of the European Commission to modernise Directive 85/374 on the liability for defective products and to adapt the liability rules to the digital age and artificial intelligence.
The European Commission intends to modernise Directive 85/374 on the liability for defective products by launching a public consultation open until 10 January 2022, and accessible here. The aim is to adapt the liability rules to the digital age and artificial intelligence. The target audience includes manufacturers of AI systems, producers of products with digital components, software developers, consumers, etc.
The consultation aims to confirm the conclusions of a 2018 Commission evaluation report on the Directive, which looks in particular at how to apply the Directive to products in the digital and circular economy). It also aims to collect information on the need and possible ways to address issues specifically related to damage caused by artificial intelligence systems. The impact on the development of AI on the liability rules is also taken up in a European Parliament resolution proposing recommendations to the Commission to develop a liability regime for artificial intelligence (see our commentaries on the latter text here).
This article was co-authored by Edouard Cruysmans in his capacity of Professional Support Lawyer at Stibbe.
