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Chapter I — General provisions

Article 1 — Subject matter and objective

This Directive lays down common rules on the liability of economic operators for damage suffered by natural persons and caused by defective products, and on compensation for such damage.

The objective of this Directive is to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market while ensuring a high level of protection of consumers and other natural persons.

Article 2 — Scope

  1. This Directive shall apply to products placed on the market or put into service after 9 December 2026.

  2. This Directive does not apply to free and open-source software that is developed or supplied outside the course of a commercial activity.

  3. This Directive does not apply to damage arising from nuclear accidents in so far as liability for such damage is covered by international conventions ratified by Member States.

  4. This Directive does not affect:

    (a) the applicability of Union law on the protection of personal data, in particular Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Directives 2002/58/EC and (EU) 2016/680;

    (b) any right which an injured person has under national rules concerning contractual liability or concerning non-contractual liability on grounds other than the defectiveness of a product as provided for in this Directive, including national rules implementing Union law;

    (c) any right which an injured person has under any special liability system that existed in national law on 30 July 1985.

Article 3 — Level of harmonisation

Member States shall not maintain or introduce, in their national law, provisions diverging from those laid down in this Directive, including more stringent or less stringent provisions, to achieve a different level of protection for consumers and other natural persons, unless otherwise provided for in this Directive.

Article 4 — Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions apply:

(1) ‘product’ means all movables, even if integrated into, or inter-connected with, another movable or an immovable; it includes electricity, digital manufacturing files, raw materials and software;

(2) ‘digital manufacturing file’ means a digital version of, or digital template for, a movable which contains the functional information necessary to produce a tangible item by enabling the automated control of machinery or tools;

(3) ‘related service’ means a digital service that is integrated into, or inter-connected with, a product in such a way that its absence would prevent the product from performing one or more of its functions;

(4) ‘component’ means any item, whether tangible or intangible, raw material or related service, that is integrated into, or inter-connected with, a product;

(5) ‘manufacturer’s control’ means that:

(a) the manufacturer of a product performs or, with regard to actions of a third party, authorises or consents to:

(i) the integration, inter-connection or supply of a component, including software updates or upgrades; or

(ii) the modification of the product, including substantial modifications;

(b) the manufacturer of a product has the ability to supply software updates or upgrades, themselves or via a third party;

(6) ‘data’ means data as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2022/868 of the European Parliament and of the Council (18);

(7) ‘making available on the market’ means any supply of a product for distribution, consumption or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge;

(8) ‘placing on the market’ means the first making available of a product on the Union market;

(9) ‘putting into service’ means the first use of a product in the Union in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge, in circumstances in which that product has not been placed on the market prior to its first use;

(10) ‘manufacturer’ means any natural or legal person who:

(a) develops, manufactures or produces a product;

(b) has a product designed or manufactured, or who, by putting their name, trademark or other distinguishing features on that product, presents themselves as its manufacturer; or

(c) develops, manufactures or produces a product for their own use;

(11) ‘authorised representative’ means any natural or legal person established within the Union who has received a written mandate from a manufacturer to act on that manufacturer’s behalf in relation to specified tasks;

(12) ‘importer’ means any natural or legal person who places a product from a third country on the Union market;

(13) ‘fulfilment service provider’ means any natural or legal person offering, in the course of a commercial activity, at least two of the following services: warehousing, packaging, addressing and dispatching of a product, without having ownership of that product, excluding postal services as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (19), parcel delivery services as defined in Article 2, point (2), of Regulation (EU) 2018/644 of the European Parliament and of the Council (20), and any other postal services or freight transport services;

(14) ‘distributor’ means any natural or legal person in the supply chain who makes a product available on the market, other than the manufacturer or importer of that product;

(15) ‘economic operator’ means a manufacturer of a product or component, a provider of a related service, an authorised representative, an importer, a fulfilment service provider or a distributor;

(16) ‘online platform’ means online platform as defined in Article 3, point (i), of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065;

(17) ‘trade secret’ means trade secret as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2016/943;

(18) ‘substantial modification’ means a modification of a product after it has been placed on the market or put into service:

(a) that is considered substantial under relevant Union or national rules on product safety; or

(b) where relevant Union or national rules on product safety lay down no threshold on what is to be considered a substantial modification, that:

(i) changes the product’s original performance, purpose or type, without that change having been foreseen in the manufacturer’s initial risk assessment; and

(ii) changes the nature of the hazard, creates a new hazard or increases the level of risk.