About
The European Law Institute (ELI) invites practitioners, policymakers, academics, and stakeholders to a webinar discussing ELI’s 1st Supplement to the ELI Draft of a Revised Product Liability Directive, entitled Liability for Defective Software Under the New EU Product Liability Regime: Will Liability Under the New PLD Extend to Social Media, AI Chatbots and Similar Digital Consumer Offerings?
This Supplement examines a rapidly emerging question in European product liability law: whether providers of social media platforms, AI chatbots, and comparable digital consumer offerings may be exposed to liability under the new Product Liability Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/2853). While litigation concerning the harmful effects of such digital products is already gaining momentum in the United States, similar claims are likely to arise before European courts.
The Supplement analyses the Directive’s newly expanded concept of ‘product’, which expressly includes software and AI systems, and explores whether and under what circumstances digital consumer offerings may fall within the scope of the new liability regime. In particular, it identifies three potential routes through which liability under the Directive may be triggered.
During this webinar, ELI experts will present the key elements of ELI’s Supplement and discuss proposed recommendations, relevant for the EU and Member States decision makers and other stakeholders.
The session will provide an opportunity to engage directly with the authors of the ELI Supplement, explore the legal implications of the proposed solutions, and reflect on the future evolution of the EU law in this field.
CPD Statement
This webinar qualifies as 1.5 hours of structured legal training (self-declared CPD) for lawyers and legal professionals.
Attendance will be verified through the webinar platform’s digital attendance record. Participants attending the full session who wish to receive a Certificate of Attendance stating the duration and learning objectives of the training are kindly invited to email the ELI Secretariat following the webinar.
Panellists
Chair
- Sir Geoffrey Vos (ELI First Vice-President; Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice in England and Wales)
ELI Co-Authors
- Christiane Wendehorst (ELI Scientific Director; Professor, University of Vienna)
- Pascal Pichonnaz (Past President of the ELI; Professor, University of Fribourg)
- Christian Twigg-Flesner (Professor, Warwick University)
Pre-Reading
Final Action-Oriented Learning Objectives
By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:
- Analyse how the new Product Liability Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/2853) expands the concept of ‘product’ to include software, software-as-a-service, and AI systems.
- Distinguish between software products, related services, and genuine services, and assess why this distinction is critical for determining the scope of liability under the new PLD.
- Identify and evaluate the three potential routes through which social media platforms, AI chatbots, content moderation systems, and similar digital consumer offerings may fall within the scope of the PLD.
- Assess the legal challenges associated with establishing liability for defective software, including defectiveness, compensable harm, causation, and evidentiary burdens.
- Examine the interaction between the PLD and other EU regulatory frameworks, including the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Services Act, and cybersecurity legislation.
- Reflect on the unresolved interpretative questions likely to be addressed by the Court of Justice of the European Union and consider their implications for future litigation, product design, and regulatory policy.
