Product Liability in a More Circular Economy: A Study of Liability for Alternative Methods of Distributing and Producing Consumer Goods

Circular economic strategies, like reusing, repurposing, redistributing repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, sharing and renting products, are increasingly present in the sector of durable consumer goods. A simultaneous trend is the growing role of prosumers at the supply-side of a more collaborative economy, such as consumers who themselves manufacture products or share them. Finally, partially overlapping with both trends is the rise of servitisation or functional economy, where access to products on a service-basis replaces ownership through sales transactions. Although these phenomena are not radically new, they are now becoming much more popular and sophisticated as a result of socio-cultural trends, policy initiatives, online platforms and other new technologies.

These shifts can be understood as alternative methods of (re)distributing and (re)producing consumer goods, which deviate from the traditional linear, non-collaborative and sales-based model of the consumer goods sector. Precisely the latter, currently still largely dominant model has served as the basis of current EU harmonised and national product liability law. Hence, this research project aims to comprehensively analyse the effect of these alternative distribution and production methods on product liability law. Since it addresses a significant gap in the literature, which mostly focuses on changes in products rather than changes in distribution and production methods, the project has an important legal descriptive goal. At the same time, it also pursues an evaluative and normative goal, to contribute to future product liability law that is sufficiently conducive to alternative, often more sustainable methods of consumer good consumption. For this purpose, the project combines a comparative study that looks at Belgian, French, German and US product liability, with an economic analysis of the applicable product liability rules.