The European Union has overhauled its product liability regime to include software and AI, prompting Poland to draft laws that may increase business risks and improve consumer protection in the digital age.
The European Union has overhauled its long-standing product liability regime to reflect the digital economy, and Poland is preparing to bring those rules into domestic law. The Ministry of Justice has published draft assumptions for amendments to the civil code and civil procedure code that would implement Directive (EU) 2024/2853, which replaces the EU’s 40-year-old framework for defective products. According to the Council of the European Union and the text published in Eur-Lex, member states must transpose the directive by 9 December 2026.
The biggest change is that “product” will no longer mean only a physical item. Under the revised regime, software, applications and artificial intelligence systems can also fall within product liability rules. That is a significant shift for manufacturers, importers, sellers and online platforms, all of whom may face claims if a defective digital or physical product causes harm. The directive is designed to align civil liability with technological change and to strengthen consumer protection across the single market, according to the European institutions and legal analyses published by Lexology and Baker McKenzie.
Polish lawyers say the practical effect will be a clearer route for consumers to seek compensation in civil court. Ewa Rutkowska, a product-law specialist quoted in Rzeczpospolita, said the new rules would materially improve the position of users while increasing business risk. She gave the example of a wearable device whose software fails to warn of a medical emergency, allowing a claimant to sue not only the device maker but also the software developer if they are separate entities. The point, she said, is that responsibility will increasingly follow the role each business played in placing the product on the market.
The draft regime also lowers the evidential burden on claimants. Katarzyna Tobiasz, a lawyer quoted by Rzeczpospolita, said courts would be able to compel disclosure of relevant internal documents, including safety records and test results, and could draw adverse inferences if a company refuses. In technically complex cases, judges may also presume a product is defective where a consumer shows it failed to meet binding safety requirements. Legal guidance published by LexisNexis says the revised directive also broadens recoverable damage and extends liability further along the supply chain, making the reform one of the most consequential consumer-law changes in years.
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