UK Trends and Developments Contributed by: Juliet Stevens, Crown Office Chambers
Commission announced that it would not be establishing a new programme of legal reform. Despite indication from a 2023 OPSS consulta - tion that support for product liability legislative overhaul far outweighs opposition, matters have not progressed since. It is highly likely that the UK will, in time, amend the existing strict liability regime to reflect the New PLD insofar as it responds to challenges posed by intangible products, artificial intelli - gence systems, the circular economy and online selling. However, Parliament is unlikely to pass any revised legislation that is as “consumer- friendly” as the New PLD. UK Regulation of Emerging Technologies Artificial intelligence Whilst the EU has opted to set out a detailed legal framework for AI (the AI Act), it seems there is currently no political appetite for such an approach in the UK. Sir Keir Starmer wrote in the Financial Times in early 2025 that Britain does not “need to walk down a US or an EU path on AI regulation – we can go our own way, taking a distinctively British approach that will test AI long before we regu- late, so that everything we do will be proportion- ate and grounded in the science. And alongside that, an offer to investors of stability, pragma - tism and the good sense they would expect from democratic British values” . What this means in practice is far from clear. Consistent with the above statement of “light touch” regulatory intent, the only likely legisla - tive intervention this year regarding AI will be the granting of Royal Assent for the Data (Use and Access) Bill. The resulting Act will permit the use of unrestricted automated decision- making on non-sensitive personal data sets,
currently largely impermissible under the GDPR framework. The government hopes that this will attract AI industries to the jurisdiction and pro -
mote innovation. Neurotechnology
One regulatory field in which the UK is making sig - nificant progress is that of medical device regula - tion. In 2024, additional post-market surveillance requirements were imposed by way of an amend - ment to the 2002 Medical Devices Regulations. In December 2024, the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published a roadmap for further regulatory reform. One area to watch is the regulation of neurotech - nology devices – ie, those devices that permit neural activity to be measured and/or modulated by the delivery of energy. It is intended that the MHRA will regulate all neurotechnologies that modulate neural tissue, whether or not they are marketed as having an intended medical pur - pose. This is to be achieved by implementing legislative amendments similar to the EU Medi - cal Device Regulations (MDR): Annex XVI, which has been in effect since June 2023. Despite evi - dence that other neurotechnological devices can have indirect effects on human health (eg, on brain plasticity), these technologies will, at least for the time being, remain regulated only as “standard” consumer products. Conclusions The UK is currently at a crossroads in terms of product safety and product liability. Parliament and the Executive must decide the extent to which it is economically and politically prudent to follow the EU’s lead towards increased regu - lation and international harmonisation. We must all keep a close eye on the tide of AI expansion in the absence of robust regulation.
296 CHAMBERS.COM
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