header-logo header-logo

Product safety in the digital age

15 November 2024 / John Doherty
Issue: 8094 / Categories: Features , Regulatory , Artificial intelligence , Technology
printer mail-detail
196797
Proposed changes to product safety laws will bring new risks for producers, writes John Doherty
  • Explains the importance of product safety and consumer protection to the new government, and sets out the aims of the proposed Product Regulation and Metrology Bill.
  • Analyses the implications of the new Bill in relation to the liability risks undertaken by AI businesses and their insurers.

In July 2024, the King’s Speech set out a raft of legislative proposals from the new Labour government. Of these, the proposed Product Regulation and Metrology Bill made the cut, reflecting the importance of product safety and consumer protection to the new government. Born of the government’s desire to be seen as taking a balanced approach to regulation in this area, it is styled as a Bill that will ‘preserve the UK’s status as a global leader in product regulation, supporting businesses and protecting consumers,’ as per Lord Leong on second reading, (8 October 2024, Lords Hansard, volume 839, col 1938).

In this dual goal vein,

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

FOIL—Bridget Tatham

FOIL—Bridget Tatham

Forum of Insurance Lawyers elects president for 2026

Gibson Dunn—Robbie Sinclair

Gibson Dunn—Robbie Sinclair

Partner joinslabour and employment practice in London

Muckle LLP—Ella Johnson

Muckle LLP—Ella Johnson

Real estate dispute resolution team welcomes newly qualified solicitor

NEWS
Cryptocurrency is reshaping financial remedy cases, warns Robert Webster of Maguire Family Law in NLJ this week. Digital assets—concealable, volatile and hard to trace—are fuelling suspicions of hidden wealth, yet Form E still lacks a section for crypto-disclosure
NLJ columnist Stephen Gold surveys a flurry of procedural reforms in his latest 'Civil way' column
Paper cyber-incident plans are useless once ransomware strikes, argues Jack Morris of Epiq in NLJ this week
In this week's NLJ, Robert Hargreaves and Lily Johnston of York St John University examine the Employment Rights Bill 2024–25, which abolishes the two-year qualifying period for unfair-dismissal claims
Writing in NLJ this week, Manvir Kaur Grewal of Corker Binning analyses the collapse of R v Óg Ó hAnnaidh, where a terrorism charge failed because prosecutors lacked statutory consent. The case, she argues, highlights how procedural safeguards—time limits, consent requirements and institutional checks—define lawful state power
back-to-top-scroll