Product Liability Directive and the Manual

The line is the placing-on-the-market date of each unit. The Directive applies to products placed on the market or put into service after 9 December 2026, and the old Directive continues for products placed on the market or put into service before it (Articles 2(1) and 21). A product line with a long production run will sit under both regimes for a while, just as it does with the EU Machinery Regulation.

Member States must bring their implementing laws into force by 9 December 2026 (Article 22(1)). The Directive leaves little room to diverge: Article 3 bars national provisions that are more or less stringent. The liable parties include the manufacturer, a component manufacturer, and, for a product made outside the Union, the importer, the authorized representative, or a fulfilment service provider (Article 8).

Article 9(1) lets a court order a defendant to disclose relevant evidence at its disposal when the claimant has presented facts and evidence sufficient to make the claim plausible. Disclosure is limited to what is necessary and proportionate, and courts must weigh trade secrets and confidential information (Article 9(3) to (5)).

The consequence of not disclosing is in Article 10(2)(a): defectiveness is presumed. Article 10(2)(b) adds a second route: it is presumed where the claimant shows the product does not comply with mandatory product safety requirements that are meant to protect against the risk of the damage suffered. Any presumption can be rebutted (Article 10(5)). The claimant still has to prove the damage, the defect, and the causal link (Article 10(1)), subject to the presumptions.

The Directive does not itself oblige you to keep any particular record. The point is narrower: if a claim arrives, what you can produce shapes your position, and what you cannot produce may be held against you.

Article 11(1) lets an economic operator escape liability by proving particular facts. Three bear on documents. Under 11(1)(c), that it is probable the defect did not exist when the product was placed on the market, or came into being afterward; showing what the product and its instructions were at that moment takes dated records. Under 11(1)(d), that the defect is due to compliance with legal requirements. Under 11(1)(e), the development risk defense: the state of scientific and technical knowledge at the time was not such that the defect could be discovered.

Software is treated differently. Article 11(2) says the 11(1)(c) exemption does not apply to defects due to a related service, to software including updates or upgrades, to a lack of updates needed to maintain safety, or to a substantial modification, where these are within the manufacturer's control. For a connected product, the manual that explains updates, and the record of what each update changed, are therefore part of the picture. Claims can follow a product for years: the expiry period is 10 years, and 25 for latent personal injury (Article 17).