This volume examines the evolving EU regulatory frameworks governing product liability, with particular emphasis on digital platforms, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI). Smart products, namely devices integrating connectivity, software, and automated decision-making, pose significant challenges for existing liability regimes, as they entail complex interactions between hardware, software, and advanced technologies, including AI systems.
These developments necessitate the coordination of regulatory frameworks, including product safety, product liability, data protection law, consumer protection law, as well as platform and AI governance, capable of addressing such complexity, while ensuring the effective compensation of consumers for harm caused by defective products. A central focus of the volume is the revised Product Liability Directive (PLD 2024), which seeks to modernise the EU liability regime in order to respond to the challenges posed by smart products and related technological advancements.
The volume is structured into three parts. Part I, Product Liability: Legal Foundations, Developments, and Digital Services, analyses the doctrinal underpinnings and legal evolution of EU product liability. Part II explores the intersection between IoT, by-design regulatory approaches, and AI. Part III addresses cybersecurity in its relation to product liability. The contributors combined legal analysis by examining case law, regulatory implementation, and technological standards and practices, in a comparative perspective, evaluating approaches across jurisdictions to identify gaps, inconsistencies, but also best practices and potential improvements for the EU framework. Additionally, it integrates perspectives from EU and comparative law and policy, with technological aspects, including, for example, AI sciences and cybersecurity.
