Authors: Léonard Maistriaux, Wannes Vandenbussche and Elisa Hambückers
Belgium has now taken its first formal step towards implementing the new Product Liability Directive, with the Belgian Federal Government approving a preliminary draft bill on 18 July 2026. Although the draft largely mirrors the directive’s provisions and may still be revised during the next stages of the legislative process, it also reflects several interesting national implementation choices made by the Belgian Federal Government.
Background to the PLD
Nearly four decades after the original Product Liability Directive (“PLD”) was adopted, the European Union (“EU”) overhauled its product liability regime through Directive (EU) 2024/2853 of 23 October 2024 on liability for defective products. The new PLD was adopted to bring the EU product liability framework up to date with technological developments, the circular economy and increasingly complex and global supply chains. Among its key changes, the new PLD significantly broadens the categories of products, economic operators and recoverable damage covered by the EU product liability framework. It also introduces a new regime for the disclosure of evidence and new presumptions designed to facilitate claims in complex cases, while revising certain liability exemptions and on time limits. In short, the new PLD is poised to reshape product liability disputes and to significantly increase liability risks for manufacturers, importers, distributors, and other service providers (see our full analysis of the new PLD here).
Implementation across the European Union
Member States were given until 9 December 2026 to transpose the new PLD into national law. Progress has varied significantly across the EU. Many countries have not yet initiated formal implementation steps. By contrast, in Germany and the Netherlands, for example, draft bills have already been submitted to Parliament, and legislative processes are well underway. Our transposition tracker follows these implementation developments in selected Member States.
Belgium takes first formal implementation step
Belgium has now taken its first formal step towards transposing the new PLD. On 18 July 2026, the Belgian Federal Government announced that it had approved a preliminary draft bill to transpose the PLD into Belgian law.
Key features of the Belgian preliminary draft bill
As might be expected given the new PLD’s maximum-harmonisation character, the Belgian preliminary draft bill largely mirrors the directive’s provisions. There are, however, a few notable elements to highlight:
- On the disclosure of evidence: the PLD establishes a new regime for the disclosure of evidence in product liability claims. Compared to the general regime governing the production of documents under Article 877 of the Belgian Judicial Code, this new regime is notably broader in the scope of evidence that may be ordered to be disclosed. In particular, it allows courts to compel the relevant evidence to be presented in an easily accessible and understandable manner, which in practice enables courts to order the production of documents that have to be created ex novo. The preliminary draft bill introduces a new Article 877/1 into the Judicial Code to reflect this new disclosure regime. Interestingly from a legislative drafting perspective, this new ad hoc disclosure regime is inserted into the Judicial Code rather than into Book 6 of the Belgian Civil Code, where the remainder of the PLD implementation would sit.
- On the burden of proof: the PLD alleviates the claimant's burden of proof by introducing new presumptions for the defect and for the causality between the defect and the damage suffered. The preliminary draft bill implements these presumptions, with the explanatory memorandum highlighting their similarities with certain existing claimant-friendly rules on evidence contained in Book 8 of the Belgian Civil Code, such as the mechanism for reversing the burden of proof under Article 8.4(5) of the Civil Code.
- On time limits: the PLD extends the expiry period (délai de forclusion/vervaltermijn) for bringing a product liability claim from 10 years to 25 years where the claimant was unable to initiate proceedings earlier due to the latency of a personal injury. In implementing this extended expiry period, the preliminary draft bill effectively creates one of the longest time limits in Belgian civil liability law.
- On the development-risk defence: the PLD allows Member States to derogate from this defence, enabling them to provide that economic operators may remain liable for a defective product even if they prove that the state of scientific and technical knowledge at the relevant time did not allow the defect to be discovered. Belgium has not, to date, made use of this derogation. The preliminary draft bill does not immediately activate this derogation, but reserves the possibility for the Belgian Federal Government to do so in the future.
- On the interaction between the PLD and the other liability regimes: drawing on the recent Sanofi Pasteur judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union and the judgment from the Belgian Court of Cassation of 14 March 2024, the explanatory memorandum to the preliminary draft bill confirms that, where the alleged wrongful act coincides with the product’s defectiveness, the claimant may bring a claim only under the product liability regime. It is only where a separate wrongful act of the producer, distinct from the mere defect, is established (for example, keeping a product in circulation despite known defects, or a breach of the duty of care), that the claimant may rely on other fault-based liability regimes.
Next steps in the Belgian implementation process
The preliminary draft bill has been submitted to the Council of State for its opinion. Once that opinion has been received, the text will be revised if necessary and submitted to the Chamber of Representatives as a formal draft bill from the Belgian Federal Government. That draft bill may also be amended during the subsequent parliamentary process, including committee review and plenary debate, before its adoption, publication in the Belgian Official Gazette and entry into force. At this stage and to our knowledge, there is no indication that Belgium will not meet the 9 December 2026 transposition deadline.