EU Product Liability Law: Platforms, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence

This volume examines the evolving EU regulatory frameworks governing product liability, with particular emphasis on digital platforms, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI). Smart products, namely devices integrating connectivity, software, and automated decision-making, pose significant challenges for existing liability regimes, as they entail complex interactions between hardware, software, and advanced technologies, including AI systems. These developments necessitate the coordination of regulatory frameworks, including product safety, product liability, data protection law, consumer protection law, as well as platform and AI governance, capable of addressing such complexity, while ensuring the effective compensation of consumers for harm caused by defective products. A central focus of the volume is the revised Product Liability Directive (PLD 2024), which seeks to modernise the EU liability regime in order to respond to the challenges posed by smart products and re-lated technological advancements. The volume is structured into three parts. Part I, Product Liability: Legal Foundations, Developments, and Digital Services, analyses the doctrinal underpinnings and legal evolution of EU product liability. Part II explores the intersection between IoT, by-design regulatory approaches, and AI. Part III addresses cybersecurity in its relation to product liability. The contributors combined legal analysis by examining case law, regulatory implementation, and technological standards and practices, in a comparative perspective, evaluating approaches across jurisdictions to identify gaps, inconsistencies, but also best practices and potential improvements for the EU framework. Additionally, it integrates perspectives from EU and comparative law and policy, with technological aspects, including, for example, AI sciences and cybersecurity.

Silvia Martinelli is a Fellow at the Turin Observatory on Economic Law and Innovation (TOELI), at the University of Turin, Italy, and a Fellow at the Information Society Law Center (ISLC) of the University of Milan and she obtained the Italian National Qualification for the role of Associate Professor in Private Law. Winner and coordinator of the JM Module “PLATFORMLAW - Platform & Data Economy European Legal Framework”.

Pierluigi Perri is an Associate Professor of “Information Security, Privacy and Protection of Sensitive Data” at the Law School, where he teaches “Data Protection, Law and AI” at the LLM in Human Centered Artificial Intelligence and “Cybersecurity and protection of personal data: legal and policies issues” at the LLM in Data Science and Economics of the University of Milan, Italy. Since 2017 he has been the Founder and Director of the postgraduate Course in “Data Protection and Data Governance” and “Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Platforms”.

Cristina Poncibò is a Full Professor of Comparative Private Law at the Department of Law of the University of Turin, Italy, and a Fellow at the Collegio Carlo Alberto. She has been appointed Scientific Director of the Master in International Trade Law at the University of Turin, Italy, in partnership with ITC-ILO, and in cooperation with Unci-tral and Unidroit. She regularly serves as a legal expert for European institutions, EU agencies, and international organisations. She is the author of more than 140 peer-reviewed academic and scientific publications.