INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Rod Freeman, Cooley LLP
Modern Product Liability – Global Risks and Challenges Product liability and safety regulation is undergoing a significant transformation. Across jurisdictions, com - panies are facing a more complex, fast-moving and fragmented regulatory environment, driven by rapid technological change, the growth of e-commerce and new business models, and the increasing pri - oritisation of circular economy and sustainability objectives. Together, these forces are reshaping what “product liability” means in practice, extending risks and responsibilities well beyond traditional notions of product safety. Legal regimes are expanding in scope, complexity and reach, cutting across multiple policy areas and enforcement fronts. In recent years, long-running debates have crystallised into concrete reforms, requiring businesses to track and implement new requirements across multiple – and sometimes incon - sistent – jurisdictions, often before guidance or stand - ards are available. These reforms increasingly affect multiple functions within an organisation, complicat - ing prioritisation and resource allocation, while the consequences of non-compliance continue to inten - sify, driving heightened litigation and enforcement risk. Mounting pressure on regulators – combined with growing calls from governments and stakeholders for regulatory simplification – has led to last-minute delays, amendments and, in some cases, rollbacks of recent reforms. While measures intended to ease compliance burdens are often welcome in principle, their late introduction has frequently generated uncer - tainty and resulted in avoidable sunk costs for busi - nesses. Many companies are now recognising that legacy approaches to managing global product liability risk are no longer sufficient. As regulatory change acceler - ates and traditional principles give way to new mod - els, the ability to anticipate emerging trends – particu - larly for products still in development – has become critical to protecting investment, maintaining market access and managing risk sustainably. This guide is designed to support that challenge. It examines the key trends shaping product liability and
safety regulation globally and provides jurisdiction- specific analysis to help companies navigate the evolving landscape. New Technologies Front and Centre Core concepts that have underpinned product safety and liability regimes for decades are being funda - mentally reshaped. Legal frameworks are expanding beyond traditional physical products to encompass digital services and standalone software, and beyond risks of physical injury and property damage to include mental health harms. Liability is also increas - ingly extending to cybersecurity vulnerabilities, soft - ware updates (or their absence), connectivity failures and AI-driven functionalities, opening up new routes to claims. Regulatory and litigation scrutiny of digital services and digital harms is expected to intensify. New regimes such as the EU’s Digital Services Act and the UK’s Online Safety Act, alongside measures including Aus - tralia’s social media age restrictions, are sharpening focus on digital product design, platform accountabil - ity and user protection. In the USA, addiction-related litigation is gathering momentum, with some plaintiff firms characterising this as social media’s “tobacco moment”. E-Commerce in the Spotlight Many major markets have introduced reforms to address evolving marketing and distribution models, particularly the growing role of online marketplaces. However, the scale, speed and complexity of mod - ern e-commerce – together with increasingly diverse online sales models – continue to fuel debate over whether existing regulatory frameworks go far enough. Policy and enforcement attention on e-commerce is expected to intensify as jurisdictions reassess cur - rent regimes and develop new approaches. Alongside formal regulation, some authorities are promoting vol - untary initiatives, such as the European Commission’s Product Safety Pledge+, which has had international influence and been endorsed by the OECD. At the same time, online marketplaces are increasingly being assigned a quasi-regulatory role, with enhanced obli - gations in some jurisdictions to monitor compliance,
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