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

Summary

Replaces the 1985 Product Liability Directive with no-fault liability rules under which software, including AI systems, is a product and integrated digital services are covered. Manufacturers stay liable for defects due to software updates or upgrades, missing safety updates or substantial modifications within their control, and defectiveness is assessed taking into account a product's ability to keep learning after it is placed on the market. Defendants can be required to disclose relevant evidence, and courts presume defectiveness or causation where technical or scientific complexity makes them excessively difficult to prove and the claimant shows they are likely.

Safety topics

Scope

Borderline scope Not AI-specific; the existing scope_note (operative AI liability instrument) stands and matches the precedent in scope-decisions.md.

Open question

scope_note contains research-process language (scope-decisions); move it to verification.note Issue #116

The record shows its last checked values until a maintainer decides; the decision is recorded in its history.

Status notes

Adopted on 23 October 2024 and published in the Official Journal (OJ L, 2024/2853) on 18 November 2024; it entered into force on 8 December 2024, the twentieth day after publication. Member States must transpose it by 9 December 2026. It applies to products placed on the market or put into service after 9 December 2026; Directive 85/374/EEC is repealed with effect from that date but continues to apply to products placed on the market or put into service before it. The Commission's product liability page says the Directive applies to products placed on the market as of 9 December 2026. The Commission is to evaluate the Directive by 9 December 2030 and every five years after.

Sources

Open the official source https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/2853/oj/eng

Secondary source: https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/single-market/goods/free-movement-sectors/liability-defective-products_en

Local copy

Verification

History

1. 2026-10-17scope_note: Not AI-specific; included as the EU's operative liability instrument for AI afte → Not AI-specific; the existing scope_note (operative AI liability instrument) sta — pipeline run 2026-10-17-recheck-europe-1 (recheck), candidate EU-052026-10-17-recheck-europe-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2. 2026-10-17notes: Adopted 23 Oct 2024. Published in OJ L on 18 Nov 2024. In force 8 Dec 2024. Memb → Adopted on 23 October 2024 and published in the Official Journal (OJ L, 2024/285 — application date corrected to the Directive's wording ('after 9 December 2026', Art. 2(1)); the Commission page's 'as of 9 December 2026' is noted as a discrepancy; repeal and evaluation dates added2026-10-17-recheck-europe-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
3. 2026-10-17safety_topics: ["accountability & liability"] → ["accountability & liability", "transparency & labelling"] — a second topic was needed (two to six); 'transparency & labelling' added for disclosure of evidence (Art. 9; recital 42 ties it to information asymmetry about how a product operates, recital 48 to proof that would require explaining the inner workings of an AI system)2026-10-17-recheck-europe-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
4. 2026-10-17summary: Modernises EU no-fault product liability so that it explicitly covers software, → Replaces the 1985 Product Liability Directive with no-fault liability rules unde — rewritten from Articles 4, 7, 9, 10 and 11 and recital 13; adds the disclosure of evidence and states the presumptions as the Directive does2026-10-17-recheck-europe-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
5. 2026-10-14scope_note: – → Not AI-specific; included as the EU's operative liability instrument for AI afte — borderline under the include-and-flag rules of issue #22026-10-14-issue-2-scope-notes · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
6. 2026-10-14notes: Adopted 23 Oct 2024. Published in OJ L on 18 Nov 2024. In force 8 Dec 2024. Memb → Adopted 23 Oct 2024. Published in OJ L on 18 Nov 2024. In force 8 Dec 2024. Memb — scope caveat moved to scope_note2026-10-14-issue-2-scope-notes · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

AI Liability Directive (withdrawn) European Union · Revoked / withdrawn

EU AI Act European Union · Partially in force

Citation

European Parliament and Council of the European Union. 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 [Directive (EU) 2024/2853]. 2024-10-23. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/2853/oj/eng. Status: In force; verified 2026-10-17 (level A). Local copy archive/EU-05/2026-10-17/official.html retrieved 2026-10-17 18:20:39 UTC, SHA-256 ec6fab04474abb272167160aa69c205915ae9cae62d4249cb3e61d2c94dab4bc. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record EU-05.

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