Hallituksen esitys HE 190/2026 vp, Act amending the Tuotevastuulaki to transpose Directive (EU) 2024/2853

The Government submitted the bill HE 190/2026 vp to Parliament on 24 September 2026. The bill amends the Product Liability Act and section 1 a of chapter 12 of the Consumer Protection Act. The bill transposes the Product Liability Directive. The bill became pending in the Economic Affairs Committee on 2 October 2026. The committee's record lists the legislative counsellor of the Ministry of Justice among those heard. The bill is to enter into force on 9 December 2026.

Under the bill the provisions in force when it takes effect continue to apply to products placed on the market or put into use before then. Section 1 a of the bill defines a product as a movable thing, electricity, a digital manufacturing file, a raw material and software, excluding a building on another person's land. The reasoning treats software as a product whether it is stored on a device, used through a communications network or cloud technology, or supplied as software as a service.

The reasoning states that information is not a product and that the rules do not apply to the content of digital files or to mere software source code. Section 2 point 5 of the bill excludes damage caused by free and open-source software developed or supplied outside commercial activity. Section 2 point 2 of the bill excludes damage to property used exclusively for professional purposes.

Section 3 of the bill lists among the circumstances for assessing safety a product's possible ability to learn or acquire new features after it is placed on the market. Section 4 b of the bill presumes a product defective where the defendant does not comply with a court order to disclose evidence. Section 4 b of the bill also presumes a product defective where the claimant shows that it does not meet mandatory product-safety requirements meant to protect against the risk of the damage suffered.

Section 4 b of the bill allows these presumptions to be rebutted by showing that the product is not defective. Section 4 c of the bill presumes causation where the claimant shows that the product is defective and that the damage is of a kind typically consistent with that defect. Section 4 c of the bill allows that presumption to be rebutted by showing that the damage was not caused by the lack of safety.

Section 5 of the bill makes liable the manufacturer of the product and the manufacturer of a defective component that was integrated into the product under the product manufacturer's control and caused the lack of safety.

Where the manufacturer is established outside the European Union, section 5 of the bill also makes liable the importer and the authorized representative, and the fulfilment service provider where there is neither an importer nor an authorized representative established in the Union. Section 5 of the bill treats as a 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 use.

Section 6 of the bill makes each distributor liable where no liable operator can be identified or none is established in the European Union. Section 6 of the bill releases a distributor who, within one month of receiving a request or claim, names the liable operator or its own distributor established in the Union that supplied the product to it.

Section 6 of the bill extends the distributor rule to an online platform provider that is not an economic operator, where the platform lets consumers conclude distance contracts with a trader and the conditions of Article 6(3) of the Digital Services Act are met.

Section 7 of the bill releases an economic operator who shows that the objective state of scientific and technical knowledge when the product was placed on the market or put into use, or while it was under the manufacturer's control, did not allow the lack of safety to be detected.

Section 7 of the bill withholds the exemption for a defect that did not exist when the product was placed on the market where the lack of safety stems from software, including updates and upgrades, or a related service, from the lack of software updates needed to maintain safety, or from a substantial modification, in each case under the manufacturer's control. The bill removes the lower limit for compensation and extends liability to the destruction and corruption of data.

Section 8 of the bill makes compensable the economic loss from destruction or corruption of data used exclusively for personal purposes. Section 9 of the bill requires a claim to be brought within three years of the injured person learning, or having reason to learn, of the damage, the lack of safety and the person liable.

Section 9 of the bill requires a claim to be brought within ten years of the liable person placing the product on the market or its being put into use, or of a substantially modified product being made available on the market or put into use after the modification. Section 9 of the bill lets an injured person who could not sue within that period because a personal injury was latent sue within 25 years of the start of the period.

Where the conditions of chapter 17, section 40 of the Code of Judicial Procedure for bringing evidence to court are met or the evidence is released voluntarily, section 13 b of the bill lets a court order, on a party's reasoned request, that the evidence be presented in an easily accessible and understandable form. Neither a conditional fine nor enforcement by a bailiff can back that presentation order.

The second Act amends the limitation provisions of the Consumer Protection Act so that their terms match those proposed for the Product Liability Act.