What the product liability directive changes for every industrial software publisher
Directive (EU) 2024/2853 on liability for defective products replaces a text from 1985. It explicitly classifies software as a product.
The consequence for a publisher
It is no longer only a matter of showing that a contract was honoured, but that a product was not defective when placed on the market, and that it remained compliant through its updates.
The consequence for the architecture
A system that writes autonomously to technical equipment in an occupied building takes on the whole causal chain. A system that proposes, traces the proposal, requires identified human validation and interposes a documented deterministic interlock presents a legible and shared chain of liability.
We consider that this change closes the door, in Europe, to fully autonomous control architectures in occupied buildings, irrespective of the quality of the underlying model. It is a design choice before it is a legal one.
Sources
Directive (EU) 2024/2853 on liability for defective products
