product liability
noun · Produkthaftung
Produkthaftung is the no-fault liability of the producer under the Produkthaftungsgesetz, which asks only whether a defective product caused the damage. Beside it runs the fault-based Produzentenhaftung under § 823 BGB, and the field is being rebuilt: the new European regime applies to products placed on the market from 9 December 2026, dropping the excess and the liability cap and bringing software within the notion of a product.
Which translation, when
Why
Product liability is the Produkthaftung, and German law answers the English term with two strands that practitioners plead side by side. The statutory strand is the Produkthaftungsgesetz, in force since 1990, which makes the producer liable without any fault: the injured party shows a defect and causation, nothing more. The Act covers death, injury to body or health and damage to another item ordinarily intended and used for private purposes; a product is any movable thing, electricity included; and a product is defective where it does not offer the safety which may justifiably be expected, taking account of its presentation, its reasonably expected use and the time it was put into circulation. The second strand is the Produzentenhaftung, the fault-based liability the courts built on § 823 BGB, which fills gaps the statute leaves and shifts the burden of proof onto the manufacturing side once a defect from that sphere is shown. A translation that renders both simply as product liability loses the fact that a German claim usually rests on two independent bases. The third thing a current translation needs is a date. Directive (EU) 2024/2853 replaces the 1985 regime and applies to products placed on the market or put into service from 9 December 2026; it treats software and digitally connected goods as products, removes the excess for property damage and the overall liability cap, and eases the claimant’s proof through disclosure and presumptions. Germany is implementing it by re-enacting the Produkthaftungsgesetz rather than amending it, the bill having reached the parliamentary stage during 2026. Older products stay under the old law, so the decisive question for any text is when the product entered the market.
Typical mistakes
- The statutory Produkthaftung is no-fault while the Produzentenhaftung under § 823 BGB requires fault, so treating them as one claim loses the alternative basis.
- The new European regime applies to products placed on the market from 9 December 2026 and older products stay under the old law, so a text without a date describes an uncertain regime.
- Damage to the defective product itself is not covered by the statutory strand, so a translation should not promise recovery the Act does not give.
What matters
Reporting on a German product-liability claim: the note should distinguish the no-fault Produkthaftung from the fault-based Produzentenhaftung, and state when the product was placed on the market, since that date decides which regime applies.
What the machine misses
A machine rendering of product liability gives Produkthaftpflicht, the insurance word, or blurs the statutory Produkthaftung into the fault-based Produzentenhaftung of § 823 BGB; German practice keeps the two strands apart, and a current text also has to say whether the product was placed on the market before or after 9 December 2026.
Examples
| product liability | Produkthaftung |
| a defective product | ein fehlerhaftes Produkt |
| the safety which may justifiably be expected | die Sicherheit, die berechtigterweise erwartet werden kann |
| placed on the market | in den Verkehr gebracht |
More notes on these sections
negligence Fahrlässigkeit
tort unerlaubte Handlung
duty of care Verkehrssicherungspflicht