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EU Product Liability Directive Art. 4(1): software, incl. AI systems, as a product

Software is a product, so the manufacturer of an AI system is strictly liable for damage caused by a defect in a product placed on the market or put into service after 2026-12-09

By Reviewed

From clause to evidenceThe chain from EU PLD Art. 4(1) to its evidence record, in 6 steps; the text alternative lists them and the facts under the figure state each in full.ClauseEU PLDArt. 4Duty holderManufacturersand other…Applies from2026-12-09Applies laterArtefactDefect-liabilityreview at…LayersLayer 01Layer 05Evidence recordEvidence recordv1Same topic elsewhere: no crosswalk topic files this clause yetAs of 2026-09-24 · illustrative, not a claim of conformity From clause to evidenceThe chain from EU PLD Art. 4(1) to its evidence record, in 6 steps; the text alternative lists them and the facts under the figure state each in full.ClauseEU PLD · Art. 4Duty holderManufacturers and other economic…Applies from2026-12-09 · Applies laterArtefactDefect-liability review at designLayersLayer 01Layer 05Evidence recordEvidence record v1Same topic elsewhere: no crosswalk topicfiles this clause yetAs of 2026-09-24illustrative, not a claim of conformity
From clause to evidence Build the artefact, then file every output it produces as a record that names AIGE-OBL-PLD-ART4. Drawn from chapter 08.
Text alternative
  • Clause: EU PLD, Art. 4.
  • Duty holder: Manufacturers and other economic….
  • Applies from: 2026-12-09, Applies later.
  • Artefact: Defect-liability review at design.
  • Layers: Layer 01, Layer 05.
  • Evidence record: Evidence record v1.
  • Record schema: Evidence record.
  • No crosswalk topic files this clause yet.
Id
AIGE-OBL-PLD-ART4
Instrument
Product Liability Directive (EU) 2024/2853 law
Clause
Art. 4(1)
In scope
Manufacturers and other economic operators
Authority
National courts
Applies from
Applies later · Products placed on the market or put into service after 2026-12-09 (Art. 2(1)); transposition by 2026-12-09

The artefact that evidences it

Defect-liability review at design; contractual recourse; residual risk in the register.

Patterns that build it

No pattern in the catalogue names this clause on its "Maps to" line yet; the artefact above is the engineering answer.

Source

Chapter 08, section Liability, copyright, consumer and sector law, checked against its sources on the review date above.

Machine-readable

Cite this obligation

García Aibar, J. (2026). EU Product Liability Directive Art. 4(1): software, incl. AI systems, as a product (AIGE-OBL-PLD-ART4). In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/obligations/aige-obl-pld-art4. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026obligation,
  author       = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title        = {{EU Product Liability Directive Art. 4(1): software, incl. AI systems, as a product (AIGE-OBL-PLD-ART4)}},
  howpublished = {In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {0.5.0},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url          = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/obligations/aige-obl-pld-art4},
  note         = {Version 0.5.0}
}