NETHERLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Eva Schothorst-Gransier, Claims Made Advocatuur
sine qua non”, a causal link between the damages and the use of the product or the alleged failure to warn was not established. The Supreme Court upheld the judgment. 3. Recent Policy Changes and Outlook 3.1 Trends in Product Liability and Product Safety Policy New General Product Safety Regulation 2023/988 The new GPSR has replaced both the European Prod - uct Safety Directive and the Food Imitating Product Directive. This increases the protection of EU consum - ers against dangerous non-food products sold both online and offline. Businesses and national market surveillance authorities have been applying the Regu - lation since 13 December 2024. Compared with the previous Product Safety Directive, the main changes under the Regulation are as follows: • a product includes (integrated and stand-alone) software (and artificial intelligence); • for all non-food consumer products, a responsible person needs to be established in the EU and can be the fulfilment service provider; • specific requirements for providers of online mar - ketplaces are introduced; • manufacturers are required to immediately report accidents with their products to the authorities in the event of severe injury or fatalities; • specific rules apply on how to handle product safety recalls, and a recommended recall notice template containing all the mandatory elements listed in the GPSR is provided on Safety Business Gateway; and • a Consumer Safety Network has been established, as well as a modernised Safety Gate platform where all the information comes together. On 21 November 2025, the European Commission published its Guidelines on the application of the GPSR (C/2025/6233). Revision of the EU Product Liability Directive On 28 September 2022, the European Commission issued a proposal for a new Product Liability Direc -
tive. In December 2023, the EU reached a provisional agreement on the text of the new Directive. The new Product Liability Directive entered into force on 8 December 2024. EU countries will have until 9 Decem - ber 2026 to transpose this Directive into national law. In the Netherlands, on 2 March 2026 a bill for imple - mentation of the new PLD has been proposed to the House of Representatives (nr. 36 906). The PLD applies to products placed on the market as of 9 December 2026. The 1985 directive remains applicable for products placed on the market before that date. The main changes under the new PLD, compared to the current Directive, are as follows: • the definition of a product is expanded to include software; • damages include medically recognised damage to psychological health and the destruction or irre - versible corruption of data; • the threshold for property damage is deleted; • any person that substantially modifies the product outside the manufacturer’s control and makes it available on the market thereafter will be consid - ered a manufacturer; • a disclosure obligation is introduced; • the burden of proof is eased for consumers; • the whole supply chain is exposed to strict liability; and • in an EU database, national supreme and appeal court judgments of product liability cases will be accessible. The new PLD will substantially improve consumers’ positions, and this is especially true due to the Euro - pean Collective Redress Directive 2020/1828, which became effective on 25 June 2023. As a result, con - sumers are more likely to issue a (collective) product liability claim and have an improved chance of suc - cess. Due to the popularity of the WAMCA (with its opt-out system), the Netherlands is already familiar with class actions and will likely remain a leading forum for them. The class-action framework is well established, the court is geared up, extensive expertise is available,
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