AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Andreas Eustacchio, EUSTACCHIO
3. Recent Policy Changes and Outlook 3.1 Trends in Product Liability and Product Safety Policy The key driver of current trends is the new EU Product Liability Directive 2024/2853 and its upcoming imple - mentation in Austria. • The Directive broadens the concept of “product” to cover software, including AI systems, digital design files and certain connected digital services. • It expands recoverable damage by adding explicit compensation for data corruption and abolishing the EUR500 property damage deductible. • It broadens the range of strictly liable operators by adding certain fulfilment service providers, specific online intermediaries and those essentially modify- ing products and reintroducing them to the market • New evidentiary tools for claimants, disclosure obligations, rebuttable presumptions in complex technical cases, are expected to influence Austrian litigation practice. • In parallel, the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) tightens safety duties, especially for online sales, marketplace operators, traceability and recall management, and is driving a modernisation of Austrian product safety practice with a strong focus on digital and connected products.
3.2 Future Policy in Product Liability and Product Safety Future policy in Austria is increasingly focused on put - ting the EU’s new product liability and safety frame - work into national law, with a particular emphasis on digital and AI-enabled products. First, Austria will need to amend its Product Liability Act to transpose Directive 2024/2853, including spe - cific provisions on liability for software and AI systems, explicit coverage of additional types of damage, such as data loss and psychological harm, and enhanced evidentiary support for claimants. Secondly, it is important to note that software updates may be treated as new instances of placing a product on the market, so each significant update that chang - es the product’s safety or risk profile may trigger a fresh assessment of defectiveness at the relevant time of that new release. Thirdly, the legislature and regulators are working on how the Product Liability Directive, the EU AI Act and the GPSR interlock, especially regarding cybersecuri - ty, update and monitoring obligations and risk assess - ment duties for connected products and IoT devices. Finally, policy debate is increasingly turning to collec - tive redress mechanisms, third-party litigation fund - ing and the practical deployment of representative actions in mass consumer and product cases, which will be crucial for large-scale disputes involving defec - tive digital products or AI-driven systems.
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