Can ‘Things’ Be Defective Products? The Applicability of The Product Liability Directive to The Internet Of Things

The purpose of this paper is to assess the applicability of the Product Liability Directive concerning the liability for defective products to the realm of the Internet of Things (IoT). This Directive has proved to be an effective tool both in addressing cases of defective products and in balancing the interests of consumers and producers, but the advent of the IoT could jeopardize the Directive’s effectiveness. Indeed, Things have a dual nature comprising tangible and non-tangible components. This can make it difficult to classify them as “products” under the Directive. The definition of defect plays a crucial role as well, as it is often challenging to understand whether the intangible part of a product is defective and whether the producer could remedy the defect after the placing the product on the market. The paper analyses the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU regarding the definitions of “product” and “defectiveness”, taking into account the lively scholarly debate on those definitions. It concludes by affirming the applicability of the Product Liability Directive to Things by means of a teleological interpretation.