INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Rod Freeman, Cooley LLP
dilemma; however, there are steps companies can take to manage this in a sustainable way. This guide is one example. It is an invaluable resource to help companies manage the interna - tional risks that arise from this changing liability and regulatory landscape. It highlights the cur - rent state of liability laws and applicable proce - dures, explains the key features of the product safety regulatory landscape in individual juris - dictions, highlighting the areas of greatest risk, and provides insight into what the future might hold and what changes might be on the horizon. Given the significant impact that future changes can have, necessitating months or even years of planning, it is becoming increasingly impor - tant for those managing modern product liability issues to understand and get to grips with any changes on the horizon. As you work through the chapters, you will see that there are certain trends and patterns in the laws. You will also see marked differences. Com - panies need to navigate this increasingly com - plex world of product law, and to find practical solutions to manage risks while meeting busi - ness demands to simplify product specifications, consolidate supply chains and get products to market quickly. In order to do so effectively, it can be important to take a step back and look for the global trends, and to try to understand why these trends exist. New Technologies Front and Centre Following policy debates and discussions over recent years around the perceived risks and challenges posed by new technologies, we are now seeing concrete reforms made to update legal frameworks in some jurisdictions. These have resulted in changes to the basic concepts that have underpinned product safety and lia - bility regimes for decades. The legal scope is
expanding beyond physical goods to include standalone software and digital services, and beyond risks to physical health and property damage to include risks to mental health. Lia - bility is also being extended to cover issues such as cybersecurity, software updates (or the lack thereof), connectivity, and AI functionali - ties. Companies are having to adopt their own compliance and risk management processes accordingly. One test will be whether these new laws are really future-proof and stay relevant as tech - nologies rapidly evolve. Another will be whether other jurisdictions follow the reforms or look to obtain perceived competitive advantages with lighter-touch regulatory approaches. E-Commerce Remains in the Spotlight Some major markets have also recently enacted reforms to deal with new marketing and distribu - tion models – particularly online marketplaces. However, tensions are already emerging, with growing concerns that recently passed product safety and liability laws do not go far enough to address the issues of this rapidly expanding market. These concerns extend beyond matters of product safety and liability, touching also on issues of unfair competition. We expect the policy and enforcement focus on online sales to continue as markets and market - ing models continue to evolve, and other juris - dictions decide how best to tackle these issues. This is an area where we have seen voluntary ini - tiatives to help address the specific issues pre - sented by online sales – for example, the “Prod - uct Safety Pledge+” initiated by the European Commission and expanded in 2023 to include a number of additional commitments by signato - ries. This initiative has had international influence
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