UK Trends and Developments Contributed by: Juliet Stevens, Crown Office Chambers
When viewed in the round, the New PLD will inevitably increase liabilities of commercial enti - ties that manufacture, supply and/or sell prod - ucts within the EU and Northern Ireland. This will in turn impact the insurance market and, as addressed below, is relevant to questions of In April 2025, the European Parliament and the Council provisionally approved the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on Toy Safety. This Regulation will replace the 2009 Directive on the safety of toys (2009/48/EC), which is widely viewed as being insufficiently effective in the modern marketplace. The time - line for its formal ratification and adoption is not yet known. legal reform in the UK. Toy Safety Regulation The key changes to the regulatory regime will be the banning of the use of various chemicals in toy manufacture, including those regarded as “endocrine disruptors” , and the requirement for all toys to bear “digital passport” (eg, a QR code) with the aim of improving traceability and recall if required. UK Product Regulation and Metrology Bill In the UK, the primary legislative instrument con - cerned with product safety continues to be the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, which transposed the 2001 EU General Product Safety Directive 2001/95/EC into domestic law. In 2021, the Office for Product Safety and Stand - ards (OPSS) acknowledged that the existing product safety regime was outdated and in many respects unfit for purpose. It was not until Sep - tember 2024 that the government introduced the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill.
The Bill, insofar as it relates to product safety, empowers the executive to amend existing product safety regulations as and when required. It should be noted that the Bill does not provide powers to regulate “standalone” intangible prod - ucts, such as software or AI. On 1 April 2025, the Bill had its second reading in the House of Commons. Concerns were raised, as they were in the House of Lords, about its reliance on delegated powers. Critics argue that the executive may use these powers to align UK product safety regulation with the rapidly evolv - ing EU regulatory landscape without adequate UK parliamentary oversight. The government has, perhaps understandably, kept its powder dry as to the extent to which it would favour such alignment. Proponents argue that the del - egated powers are necessarily broad to allow for responsibility and agility in the face of pressing threats and technological advances. The OPSS has not yet provided any useful indicators as to regulatory intent, merely stating that the Bill is designed to ensure “the UK continues to be a global leader in these areas, supporting busi- nesses and protecting consumers” . UK Product Liability Regime UK product liability law comprises the common law and the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (CPA). The CPA transposes the strict liability regime of the 1985 PLD into domestic legislation. In 2021, the Law Commission consulted on a new 14th Programme of Law Reform. It invited views as to whether the CPA required reform, noting (as has since been addressed in the EU) that the CPA was “not designed to accommo- date software and related technological devel- opments such as 3D printing or machines that ‘learn’” . In February 2023, fresh from the domes - tic political turmoil of Autumn 2022, the Law
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