제조물 책임법의 디지털 제조물책임으로의 확장을 위한 검토: EU 「제조물책임지침 개정안」을 중심으로

The revision of EU 「Product Liability Directive」 is proposed to protect consumers from harm caused by software and AI products in the digital age. Software plays a central role in all industries, including the Internet of Things, self-driving cars, drones, medical devices, robots, and digital services on online platforms. As such, the core of digital age products is software, and hardware relies heavily on software features and enhancements. On the other hand, damages due to defects in digital products and services are expected, but the current Product Liability Act does not explicitly include software in the scope of products subject to product liability. Therefore, it is difficult to clearly ask for product liability when damages occur to consumers due to the use of software and AI. To protect consumers in the digital age, it is necessary to expand current product liability laws to meet digital product liability. As for the contents, the task of expanding software to the subject of product liability, preparing criteria for judging defects in software, and expanding the subject of responsibility for digital products was reviewed. To this end, we compared and reviewed the definition and types of products in the revision of EU 「Product Liability Directive」, defect judgment regulations, and responsible party regulations and related regulations of Korea's Product Liability Act, and suggested the direction of amendment of the Product Liability Act. These legislative challenges are not an obstacle to the development and growth of the digital industry. Rather, the digital industry will be able to further develop and grow based on the trust gained through relevant legislation and its maintenance that guarantees the safety and human rights of citizens and consumers.