Liability Issues in Advanced Robotics: An Introduction for European In-House Counsels

Abstract

On February 16th 2017, the European Parliament adopted the Resolution on Civil Law Rules on Robotics, to address legal and ethical issues emerging from technological developments in the field of robotics, automation and artificial intelligence. Among others, liability issues in human-robot interaction are matters of great concern for European institutions. The Resolution calls for new approaches to be implemented into EU legal framework with regard to harmful behaviours of autonomous machines which, in EU Parliament’s view, are not sufficiently nor efficiently addressed under traditional legal subjects, such as product liability. After giving a complete outlook on contractual and non-contractual liability for damages caused by advanced robots, this paper will present a description of new approaches highlighted by the European Parliament and provide hints for in-house counsels in business sectors affected by ‘Industry 4.0’ revolution on how to prevent or limit risks for their companies in the next future.