Key amendments to product liability

Product liability regulations hold manufacturers strictly responsible for damages caused by defective products. It allows injured parties to claim compensation directly from the manufacturer, without relying on contractual rules.

Hungarian law has long aligned with EU directives on product liability, but recent clarifications and updates have become necessary. Since the end of 2024, a new EU directive replaced the old No. 85/374/EEC directive (, aiming to improve legal certainty, create fair competition within the internal market, and clarify fundamental concepts in line with recent EU court rulings.

Technological advancements have raised long-standing questions about the legal position of software and how it fits into the rules of product liability. The new directive, together with planned updates to the Hungarian Civil Code, addresses this uncertainty. Starting 9 December 2026, all movable products, including software and digital manufacturing files, will fall under strict liability rules based on the amendments of the Hungarian Civil Code. According to the new rules, “software is considered a product for the purposes of applying no-fault liability, regardless of how it is supplied or used, whether stored on a device, accessed via a network or cloud, or provided as a service.” The amendment also explicitly stipulates that, for the purposes of its application, raw materials, such as gas and water, as well as electricity, are also considered products. On the other hand, it is clarified that information itself is not a product; therefore, the rules on product liability will not apply to the content of digital files such as media files or e-books, nor to the mere source code of software. Furthermore, it does not apply to free and open-source software developed or made available in the course of non-commercial activities, since products developed or provided in this way are, by definition, not placed on the market.

The legislator is also introducing changes in the rules of evidence relating to product liability to alleviate the claimant’s burden of proof. While the reason for the amendment lies in the information asymmetry between claimants seeking compensation and manufacturers, the purpose is to facilitate both access to evidence and the proof of claims by the claimants. In view of this, the legislator introduces a rebuttable presumption of defect in product liability cases where the economic operator either fails to comply with its duty to cooperate in providing evidence, or where the claimant proves that the product did not meet product safety requirements or that the damage was caused by an obvious malfunction of the product. If it is established that the product is defective, and the nature of the damage, primarily on the basis of similar cases, is typically caused by the defect in question, the claimant will not have to prove the causal link, which shall be presumed. Moreover, the defect of the product, or the causal link between the defect and the damage, or both, shall be presumed if, due in particular to the technical or scientific complexity of the case, the injured party would face extreme difficulty in proving the evidence or the causal link, or both.

Finally, the amendment extends the limitation period for personal injury claims from 10 to 25 years, recognising the often hidden nature of such harm. In the case of property damage, the new regulation removes the EUR 500 threshold for property damage claims. These updates mark a major step forward in clarifying liability and protecting consumers, especially in the digital age.