The situation
A product about to be placed on the market, with connected software
A Mannheim maker of industrial heat pumps is launching a connected model next spring, with control software it updates over the air. Commercial units go to businesses, and a smaller version will be sold to homeowners through installers. The general counsel wants a memo for the launch committee on the company’s exposure if a unit causes harm.
The launch falls just after the new EU product liability rules take effect, and they bring software and updates squarely into scope. The hours go on separating what applies to units already on the market from what applies to new ones, and on setting out the German rules that run alongside strict liability.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- Strict liability for defective products
- The manufacturer is liable for damage caused by a defect in its product without proof of fault. The injured person proves the defect, the damage and the causal link, and liability towards the injured person cannot be excluded by contract.
- The new directive covers software
- The Product Liability Directive adopted in 2024 treats software as a product and holds the manufacturer answerable for defects caused by updates, or by a failure to supply security updates, within its control. It also eases the claimant’s burden through disclosure of evidence and presumptions.
- The date decides the regime
- The new directive applies to products placed on the market after 9 December 2026. Products placed on the market before then stay under the 1985 directive as implemented in German law, so the memo has to say which regime each product line falls under.
- German law runs a second track
- Alongside the product liability statute, German courts apply fault-based producer liability under general tort law, covering design, manufacture, instructions and monitoring the product after launch. A claimant can rely on both.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
German manufacturer launching a connected heat pump in spring 2027, with control software updated over the air, sold to businesses and to consumers via installers. What is our product liability exposure under German law and the new Product Liability Directive, and what changes for software updates?
You start with
A product about to be placed on the market, with connected software
- 01
Describe the product and its markets
Give the product, the software, the customers and the launch date. azta searches the old and new directives, the German product liability act and German tort law.
Cited research· Free - 02
Compare the two regimes
Open the cited provisions in the reader and compare the version in force at each date, so the transition is set out from the text.
Atlas statute reader - 03
Find the German decisions
Ask for German federal decisions on producer liability and the duty to monitor products. azta summarises them and links each one.
Case-law search - 04
Draft the launch memo
Ask for a memo with the regime per product line, the software duties and the actions before launch. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
A memo on the manufacturer’s product liability exposure for the launch committee
What you get
A memo on the manufacturer’s product liability exposure for the launch committee
Launch memo · draft
Connected heat pump: product liability exposure
Regime. Units placed on the market from spring 2027 fall under the new Product Liability Directive as transposed into German law. Units of the current model already on the market stay under the existing rules. For some years the two lines will be assessed under different regimes.
Software. Under the new rules the control software is part of the product. We remain answerable for defects introduced by our updates and for failing to supply security updates while the unit is within our control. The update policy should be agreed and documented before launch.
Second track. Independently of strict liability, German tort law requires us to monitor the product after launch and to act on risks we learn of. The field-monitoring process for the connected model should be running on launch day.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
12 minutes a month
At €140 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 32
- Capacity at your rate
- €4,536
- More product liability memos a quarter
- 0.8
- Return on Pro
- 14×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoSources azta searches here
- EUR-Lex · Curia
- Gesetze im Internet
- Rechtsprechung im Internet
What stays with you
- The technical risk analysis and the design decisions.
- Insurance cover and contractual recourse against your suppliers.
- Confirming the German transposing law in force on the launch date.
Frequently asked questions
- Has Germany transposed the new directive yet?
- Ask azta at the date you need. Legislation is indexed daily, and each citation shows whether the provision is in force on that date.
- Does the memo cover product safety rules too?
- Ask for them separately. Product safety and product liability are different regimes, and azta researches each from its own sources.
- Can it find decisions on the duty to monitor products?
- Yes. azta searches the published German federal decisions in its source register and links each one to the full text.
