European Union: European Commission launches consultation as part of initiative aiming to adapt liability rules to the digital age and circular economy

Description

European Commission launches consultation as part of initiative aiming to adapt liability rules to the digital age and circular economy

On 18 October 2021, the European Commission launched a public consultation on adapting the civil liability rules for the digital age. The consultation period will run until 10 January 2022. The consultation builds on the challenges previously identified in the White Paper on AI and the Report on Liability for AI, IoT, and Robotics as part of the Commission’s strategy to modernize EU regulations for the digital age. The Commission in its inception impact assessment roadmap noted that Directive 85/374/EEC on Product Liability is no longer fit for the digital age and identified shortcomings as classification of digital elements as products, unclarity over who is to be held liable, and how to establish causal when AI systems are involved. Finally, the framework should lead to legal certainty, limit damages and in the case of damages, secure compensation for damaged parties.

Original source

Scope

Policy Area
Consumer protection
Policy Instrument
Quality of Service requirement
Regulated Economic Activity
ML and AI development, technological consumer goods, software provider: other software
Implementation Level
supranational
Government Branch
executive
Government Body
central government

Complete timeline of this policy change

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2021-06-30
adopted

On 30 June 2021, the European Commission (EC) published an inception impact assessment (IIA) on a p…

2021-10-18
in consultation

On 18 October 2021, the European Commission launched a public consultation on adapting the civil li…

2022-01-10
processing consultation

On 10 January 2021, the public consultation on adapting the civil liability rules for the digital a…

2022-09-28
under deliberation

On 28 September 2022, the European Commission published the Proposal for a Directive on adapting no…

2023-10-11
under deliberation

On 11 October 2023, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) submitted an opinion on the Euro…

2024-09-19
under deliberation

On 19 September 2024, the European Parliament published the results of the complementary impact ass…

2025-02-11
under deliberation

On 11 February 2025, the European Commission announced the 2025 work programme including the withdr…

2025-05-20
under deliberation

On 20 May 2025, the European Parliament's Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMC…

2025-10-06
rejected

On 6 October 2025, the European Commission withdrew its proposal for a Directive on adapting non-co…

2025-12-03
rejected

On 3 December 2025, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee rejected a proposal to legall…