AustriaProdukthaftungsgesetz 2026 (PHG 2026), ministerial draft 151/ME implementing Directive (EU) 2024/2853
A published draft that has not reached a legislature, dated , as of .
A product liability rule binding private bodies.
- Private right of action
- Yes
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
As of .
Where it has got to
The text described here is Entwurf Bundesgesetz über die Haftung für ein fehlerhaftes Produkt 2026 (Produkthaftungsgesetz 2026 – PHG 2026), 151/ME. That print is 151/ME, published .
Locally, this stage is Ministerialentwurf im Begutachtungsverfahren.
The stage above is recorded at www.parlament.gv.at.
The review period for the draft ends on .
What it requires
- If you develop or make software, or have it designed or made, you answer as its manufacturer; free and open-source software developed or supplied outside a business activity is outside the Act (§§ 2(1), 2(10) and 17 point 1).
- Keep supplying the software updates and upgrades needed to keep the product safe while it is within your control: a defect caused by software, by an update or upgrade, or by a missing necessary update is not excused because it arose after you put the product into circulation (§§ 2(5) and 8(2)).
- Meet the product safety requirements that apply to your product, safety-relevant cybersecurity requirements included: they count in judging whether it is defective (§ 5(2) point 6), and failing a binding requirement that protects against the injury suffered presumes it defective (§ 7(2) point 2).
- Account for what your product learns or acquires after it is put into circulation: the effect of that ability is weighed in judging whether it is defective (§ 5(2) point 3).
- Keep records you could produce if a court orders disclosure on a claimant's plausible claim; failing to disclose relevant evidence after a court order presumes the product defective (§§ 6(1) and 7(2) point 1).
- If you are a manufacturer established outside the Union, your importer and your authorized representative answer as the manufacturer does, and where there is neither, the fulfilment service provider answers (§ 3(1) point 3).
- If you substantially modify a product outside the manufacturer's control and then make it available on the market or put it into operation, you answer as its manufacturer (§ 3(2)).
- If you are a supplier, or an online platform that lets consumers conclude distance contracts with traders, name an economic operator established in the Union or your own supplier within one month of an injured person's request, or you answer for the defective product (§ 3(3) and (4)).
- Do not rely on a contract term to exclude or limit your duty to compensate in advance (§ 9).
- A claim under the Act is time-barred three years after the injured person knew or should have known of the damage, the defect and the liable operator, and ten years after you put the product into circulation or into operation (25 years for a latent bodily injury) unless proceedings were started earlier (§§ 13 and 14).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
What this law does
The ministerial draft 151/ME of a Produkthaftungsgesetz 2026 (PHG 2026) reached the National Council on . The review period for the draft ends on . The draft states that it implements Directive (EU) 2024/2853. Section 2(1) of the draft makes software a product, together with electricity, digital manufacturing files and raw materials. Section 17 point 1 excludes free and open-source software that is developed or supplied outside a business activity.
Section 3(1) point 1 makes the manufacturer of a defective product liable for the damage. Section 3(1) point 2 makes the manufacturer of a defective component liable where the component was integrated into or connected with a product under the manufacturer's control and caused the product's defect.
Where a manufacturer is established outside the Union, section 3(1) point 3 also makes liable the importer, the manufacturer's authorized representative and, where there is neither in the Union, the fulfilment service provider. Section 3(2) treats as the manufacturer a person who substantially modifies a product outside the manufacturer's control and then makes it available on the market or puts it into operation.
Section 3(3) makes a supplier liable where no economic operator established in the Union can be identified and the supplier does not name one, or its own supplier, within one month of the injured person's request. Section 3(4) applies the same rule to the provider of an online platform that lets consumers conclude distance contracts with traders, where the conditions of Article 6(3) of the Digital Services Act are met.
Section 4 point 3 compensates the destruction or corruption of data that is not used for professional purposes. Section 4 point 2 letter c excludes from the compensated damage to things the things that are used exclusively for professional purposes. Section 5(2) point 6 lists among the circumstances to consider in judging a defect the relevant product safety requirements, including safety-relevant cybersecurity requirements.
Section 5(2) point 3 lists among those circumstances the effect on a product of its ability to keep learning or to acquire new functions after it is put into circulation or into operation. Section 6(1) lets the court order the opposing party to disclose relevant evidence in its control, to the extent disclosure is necessary and proportionate.
Section 7(2) presumes the product defective where the defendant fails to disclose relevant evidence under section 6(1), and where the claimant shows that the product does not meet binding product safety requirements that protect against the risk of the injury the injured person suffered.
Section 8(1) point 5 lists among the circumstances that release an economic operator from liability that the defect could not be recognized according to the objective state of science and technology when the product was put into circulation or into operation.
Section 8(2) denies the release that section 8(1) point 3 gives for a defect that arose after circulation where the defect is due, within the manufacturer's control, to a connected service, to software including updates or upgrades, to missing software updates or upgrades needed to maintain safety, or to a substantial modification. Section 9 bars excluding or limiting the duty to compensate in advance. Section 13 sets a limitation period of three years.
Section 14(1) ends the injured person's claim after ten years unless the injured person has started proceedings against a liable economic operator in the meantime. Section 14(2) extends the period to 25 years where the latency of a bodily injury prevented proceedings within ten years. Section 19 would bring the Act into force on and apply it to products put into circulation or into operation after .
Section 20 would repeal the Produkthaftungsgesetz of 1988 on that day and keep it applying to products put into circulation or into operation before then.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app crawls the web, trains models, generates content with AI, deploys a chatbot, sends automated outreach, makes high-risk automated decisions, processes voice recordings, processes biometric data, publishes adult content, operates a social platform, serves under-18s, operates an app store, ships a mobile app, reuses other publishers' content, distributes a software product, records calls, records text chat or tracks devices.