The new Product Liability Directive: what it means for Authorised Representatives
New liability rules are changing the risk profile for ARs, and the insurance arrangements behind them.
The EU’s new Product Liability Directive significantly changes the liability landscape for Authorised Representatives.
Member States must transpose Directive (EU) 2024/2853 into national law by 9 December 2026, and the new rules will apply to products placed on the market from that date.
One of the Directive’s objectives is to ensure that an injured person can identify an EU-based party against which a product-liability claim can be brought when the manufacturer is established outside the European Union.
For non-EU manufacturers, the Directive therefore provides that an importer or Authorised Representative established in the EU may be held liable for damage caused by a defective product. Where neither exists, liability may move to a fulfilment service provider.
For Authorised Representatives, this creates a new reality.
An AR normally has no control over how a product is designed or manufactured. It does not select materials, engineer safety-critical components or control production quality. Yet under the new liability framework, it may nevertheless become one of the EU-based parties against which an injured person can bring a claim.
The same underlying tension exists for importers and, in certain circumstances, fulfilment service providers: legal exposure may arise even though those operators were not responsible for designing the allegedly defective product.
Whether that allocation of liability is proportionate has been the subject of considerable discussion. Regardless of that debate, however, the Directive has now been adopted and businesses need to prepare for its practical consequences.
For EurHub, insurance is therefore an important part of the relationship with manufacturers.
We require clients to maintain appropriate product liability insurance for the products covered by our mandate and for EurHub to be added as an additional insured. In practice, this can generally be arranged relatively easily with a manufacturer’s existing insurer.
EurHub has also secured its own product liability insurance covering its activities as an Authorised Representative. Obtaining suitable cover for this emerging AR risk is not straightforward, as insurers are still developing their approach to the new liability regime. We are therefore pleased that our compliance processes and risk-management approach have enabled us to put dedicated insurance protection in place.
The new PLD makes one thing particularly clear: Authorised Representation is no longer a role that should be treated as a low-risk administrative formality.
For manufacturers and ARs alike, proper documentation, clearly defined responsibilities and appropriate insurance arrangements are becoming increasingly important.
