Jamie L. Lanphear

Finally – summer is here! Just around the corner, however, is the implementation of the revised EU Product Liability Directive (EU PLD), effective December 9, 2026. We’ve been closely tracking the new EU PLD’s development and analyzing its impact on manufacturers who place their products into the EU market. The more layers we pull back, the more concern we have.

On December 9, 2026, the European Union’s revised Product Liability Directive (PLD or “Directive”) will take effect, fundamentally altering the landscape of product liability litigation across all EU member states. For manufacturers doing business in Europe, this is not a distant regulatory footnote – it is an imminent shift that will reshape how wrongful death claims are litigated, defended, and ultimately resolved.

The European Union has adopted Directive (EU) 2024/2853 (the PLD), a comprehensive update to its product liability regime that Member States must transpose into national law by December 9, 2026. Some Member States have already begun with the transposition, and one–Hungary–has completed it. This reform modernizes the EU’s strict liability framework and will directly shape risk and litigation exposure for aviation and aerospace stakeholders across the value chain.