Authors:
Doriana Cobârzan
1
;
Richard Bubel
2
and
Torsten Ullrich
3
;
1
Affiliations:
1
Fraunhofer Austria Research GmbH, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria
;
2
Software Engineering, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
;
3
Institute of Visual Computing, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria
Keyword(s):
Product Liability Directive, Software Quality, Software Supply Chain, Risk Management.
Abstract:
The European Commission’s revised Product Liability Directive was signed in October 2024 and will come into force in 2026. The revision extends the concept of a product to include software and software-based services, and significantly strengthens the legal rights of customers in the event of damage caused by software. This makes liability issues a key aspect of software development. The precise manner in which national legislation is to be drafted and interpreted remains to be clarified. However, the general direction has been sufficiently outlined to enable the implementation of preventative measures, which are discussed briefly here. This article looks at the legal implications of the directive for software producers, focusing on third-party components. It also discusses guidelines to ensure high software quality and improve the legal position of the producer. The present work is concerned exclusively with the Product Liability Directive, notwithstanding its embedding within a fra
mework of regulations, including, for example, the AI Act and the General Data Protection Regulation.
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