Product liability

Reviewing the law relating to liability for defective products.

Problem (Back to top)

It has been nearly 40 years since the introduction of the product liability regime, set out in the Consumer Protection Act 1987. The regime was intended to give consumers a straightforward route to claiming compensation for certain harms caused by defective products.

Since the legislation was introduced, the range of available products – particularly in the context of digital technology – has developed significantly. The product liability regime has not kept pace with those developments.

Further, there are concerns that the existing product liability regime is failing in practice to achieve one of its key aims: balancing protecting persons from harm caused by defective products on the one hand, against support for business by enabling innovation and growth on the other. We have heard that, in practice, it has proven difficult for persons to bring successful claims under the current product liability regime.

Project (Back to top)

This project will consider issues with the operation of the existing product liability regime, particularly in light of emerging technologies, to determine what law reform might be required to ensure the product liability regime is fit for purpose. Such a review will help determine and, if necessary, correct the balance between protecting people from harm and supporting industry. It would also provide increased certainty regarding managing harm caused by products, especially in the digital age.

Next steps

We expect to begin this work in 2025.

The project will start by determining the scope of our work, including agreeing the terms of reference for the project with Government. We will set out the scope of the project in more detail once it has been established.

We are interested in hearing from stakeholders with views about what the project should focus on and issues with the current product liability regime. Our contact details are below. Once we have begun our work, we will also meet with stakeholders to understand their experiences and help us formulate our proposals for reform, which we will then publish in a consultation paper.