EU’s Proposed Product Liability Directive – More Trick than Treat?

Americans love a good scare on Halloween. But, of course – with ancient castles, centuries of folklore, and actual Transylvania, our friends in the European Union know how to celebrate the spooky season just as well as we do.  Unfortunately, there’s more than ghost stories to send a shiver down your spine in the EU these days.  This month, a joint committee of the European Parliament voted on new amendments to the proposed “digital age” update of the Product Liability Directive, which was initially enacted in the 1980s.  On the one hand, the proposal seems like a treat with its efforts to modernize the product liability framework to account for the changing product landscape and to address access issues for consumers.  But many European business leaders caution that this is more trick than treat.  Among other things, there are concerns that the traditional burden of proof requirements and safeguards on evidentiary disclosures will vanish into thin air.  Concerns abound that the proposals won’t benefit consumers or industry, but rather lawyers and litigation funders.  Scary stuff, indeed.