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Germany Publishes New Product Liability Act: What the EU Rules From 9 December 2026 Mean for Inventor Teams, CAD Files and Records | Autodesk Inventor | Register and Certify Ownership of CAD design

2026-10-30 15:26 News
On 27 October 2026 Germany published its new Product Liability Act in the Federal Law Gazette (BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 321). The law brings the EU Product Liability Directive 2024/2853 into German law and applies from 9 December 2026. From that date software and digital manufacturing files count as products, courts can order manufacturers to hand over evidence, and a manufacturer that fails to do so faces a presumption that its product was defective.
Germany is the largest machinery market in the EU and home to many of the companies that design in Autodesk Inventor. Its act was adopted by the Bundestag on 8 October 2026 and passed the Bundesrat on 16 October without a call for the mediation committee. Austria followed on 23 October with a draft of its own law, open for comments until 12 November 2026, according to the Austrian law firm E+H. Every EU member state has to transpose the directive by 9 December 2026.
Product liability is strict liability: an injured person does not have to prove carelessness, only that a product was defective and caused the damage. The new rules reach into the files, software and records that engineering teams produce every day, so Inventor teams should read them now, not after the first claim.
TL;DR: from 9 December 2026 your design records can decide a liability case

Germany published its new Product Liability Act on 27 October 2026; it applies to products placed on the market from 9 December 2026. Under the EU directive behind it, software and digital manufacturing files such as 3D printing files are products. Courts can order the defendant to disclose relevant evidence, with protection for trade secrets, and a failure to disclose leads to a presumption of defect. Germany's 85 million euro liability cap and 500 euro deductible are gone. Claims can be brought for up to 10 years after a product is placed on the market, 25 years for latent personal injury. For Inventor teams the practical job is clear: know your role, keep dated design and release records, and be able to find them years later.

What did Germany publish on 27 October?

The Act to Modernise Product Liability Law (Gesetz zur Modernisierung des Produkthaftungsrechts) is dated 22 October 2026 and was published on 27 October 2026. Article 1 contains a completely new Product Liability Act that applies from 9 December 2026. Article 2 makes the old 1989 act expire on the same day.
The transition is product by product. According to German law firm summaries, products placed on the market up to and including 8 December 2026 stay under the old act; the new rules apply to products placed on the market or put into service from 9 December. The cut-off applies to each individual product, not to a model series, so a machine type that ships before and after the date can fall under both regimes.

What changes for manufacturers?

The Product Liability Directive (EU) 2024/2853 was adopted on 23 October 2024 and replaces Directive 85/374/EEC. The changes that matter most to engineering teams:
  • Software is a product. It does not matter whether software is embedded in a machine or supplied separately. Free and open-source software developed or supplied outside a commercial activity is excluded.
  • Digital manufacturing files are products. The directive defines them as a digital version of, or digital template for, a movable that contains the functional information needed to produce a tangible item by enabling the automated control of machinery or tools. 3D printing files are the example German commentators give.
  • Components and related services. A component can be tangible or intangible, including a digital service without which the product cannot perform its functions. The manufacturer of a defective component can be liable alongside the manufacturer of the product.
  • Updates count. If the manufacturer keeps control after sale, for example by supplying software updates, a defect caused by an update or by a missing security update needed to keep the product safe is not excused because it appeared after the sale.
  • Data loss. Destruction or corruption of data is compensable damage, but only for data not used for professional purposes.
  • No cap, no deductible. In Germany the old 85 million euro ceiling for personal injury and the 500 euro deductible for property damage are abolished.

Are Inventor files now products?

This is the question most Inventor users will ask, and the honest answer is: some of them may be, and no court has ruled yet. The test in the directive is functional. A file is a digital manufacturing file if it contains the information needed to produce a physical item by controlling machines or tools automatically.
That fits most clearly the files that drive machines directly: STL or 3MF files sent to a 3D printer, and CAM output or NC programs for mills, lathes and routers. A STEP export or a native Inventor part sold so that customers can manufacture the item could also be argued to qualify. A model used only inside your company to design a product you then build yourself is different: there the product on the market is the physical item, and the file is part of the evidence of how it was designed.
Two practical points follow. If you sell or share files so that others can print or machine parts, such as spare parts, accessories or design-for-download catalogues, treat those files as products with their own quality checks, version control and instructions. And whatever you sell, your CAD files and release history are what you will be asked to disclose if a claim arises. Our guide to CAD file format standards in manufacturing explains which formats carry which information.

Who is liable, and what changes for suppliers?

The directive spreads liability along the supply chain. The manufacturer of the product is liable, including anyone who has a product designed or manufactured and sells it under their own name or trademark. A component manufacturer is liable when its defective component was integrated under the product manufacturer's control and caused the defect.
For manufacturers outside the EU, the importer, the authorised representative or the fulfilment service provider can be held liable, and a distributor that cannot name its supplier within one month of a request becomes liable too.
Anyone who substantially modifies a product outside the original manufacturer's control and then makes it available or puts it into service is treated as a manufacturer. That matters for machine builders who retrofit, rebuild or upgrade existing equipment, and for integrators who change a machine's safety-relevant behaviour. Our article on how to assign liability to CAD file modifications covers the record-keeping side.
Your roleWhen you can be liableRecords that help you
Manufacturer of the productDefect in the product, including in components integrated under your controlReleased designs, calculations, test reports, change history
Component supplierYour component was defective and caused the product defectThe design and instructions you received from the product manufacturer
Design office or contract engineerIf you sell under your own name, or a court finds you developed the productContracts, scope of work, approved revisions, handover records
Seller of printable or machinable filesThe file itself is a product if it drives automated productionFile versions, validation tests, printer or machine settings, instructions
Retrofitter or modifierSubstantial modification outside the manufacturer's controlWhat you changed, why, and which parts you did not touch
Importer or EU representativeThe manufacturer is outside the EUSupplier identity, technical documentation, conformity files

Why do your design records matter more now?

The biggest practical change is evidence. Under the directive, a court can order the defendant to disclose relevant evidence at its disposal once the claimant has presented facts and evidence that make the claim plausible. Disclosure must be necessary and proportionate, and courts can take specific measures to keep trade secrets confidential.
If the defendant fails to disclose, the product is presumed defective. Defect is also presumed if the product does not meet mandatory safety requirements meant to protect against the risk in question, or if the damage came from an obvious malfunction during normal use. Causation is presumed when a defect is established and the damage is of a kind typically consistent with it. Where technical or scientific complexity makes proof excessively difficult, a court can presume defect or causation if the claimant shows they are likely. All of these presumptions can be rebutted.
Rebutting a presumption takes records. A manufacturer that can show which revision was released, what calculations and tests supported it, and what changed later is in a far stronger position than one whose history lives in personal folders and overwritten files. See our guides on how to audit CAD file change history and CAD file version history best practices.
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How long do you need to keep evidence?

An injured person has three years to bring a claim, counted from when they knew or should have known of the damage, the defect and the liable operator. Claims expire 10 years after the product was placed on the market or put into service, or after a substantial modification. Where a personal injury is latent and could not be claimed within 10 years, the period is 25 years.
For an Inventor team, that means design and release records for a product shipped in 2027 may be needed in 2037, or later. Files must still open, references must still resolve, and you must be able to show they were not changed after the fact. Our article on how better CAD version control reduced rework and liability shows what that looks like in practice.
Defences remain. A manufacturer is not liable if it proves, for example, that the defect probably did not exist when the product was placed on the market, or that the state of scientific and technical knowledge at the time could not reveal it. A component manufacturer is not liable if the defect is due to the design of the product it went into, or to the instructions it received from that product's manufacturer. Each of these defences is proved with dated documents.

What should Inventor teams do now?

  1. Map your role for each product. Manufacturer, component supplier, design service, modifier or importer: your obligations and defences depend on it. Read our overview of design liability in engineering projects.
  2. List the files that drive machines. STL, 3MF, CAM output and any models you sell or share so others can produce parts. Give them release control, validation and instructions like any other product.
  3. Make release history complete. Vault revisions, lifecycle states, approvals and change orders should show who released what and when. See how to manage CAD file revisions across teams.
  4. Keep design reasons next to the model. Calculations, FEA results, test reports and risk assessments should be linked to the revision they support.
  5. Track software and firmware. If your products contain software, configurators or controllers you update, keep a record of versions and security updates.
  6. Check contracts and insurance. Liability towards injured people cannot be excluded by contract, but recourse between companies can be agreed. Review supplier terms and ask your insurer about the new rules. Our guide to supplier compliance with CAD data regulations helps here.
  7. Plan for 10 to 25 years. Archive released data in formats you can open later, with checksums and dated records, outside personal drives.
  8. Prepare for disclosure. Know where evidence lives, which parts are trade secrets, and how you would present them to a court in an understandable way.
For more background, read best practices for CAD compliance documentation, the burden of proof in IP infringement cases and what immutable records in blockchain mean for IP. If you outsource production, see CAD file protection in outsourced manufacturing; for trade secrets that may surface in a disclosure order, see 3D model files as trade secrets.

The bigger picture

This week's news on our sister sites shows why records and controls around engineering data keep moving up the agenda:
CADChain explains how its CAD data protection technology works across CAD systems, and our article on the .NET 10 update for Inventor and Vault covers another deadline CAD managers face in November.

Conclusion

Germany's new Product Liability Act is published, and the rules behind it apply across the EU from 9 December 2026. Nothing changes for products already on the market, but every product placed on the market from that date falls under a regime that treats software and digital manufacturing files as products, removes the German cap and deductible, and lets courts order manufacturers to open their files. For Inventor teams the work is not legal drafting but engineering discipline: know which files drive machines, keep release history complete, link design reasons to revisions and keep it all readable for a decade or more. A team that can show what it designed, and when, will be ready when a court asks.
Your designs, your proof.

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FAQ: the new product liability rules and Inventor teams

When did Germany publish its new Product Liability Act?

On 27 October 2026 in the Federal Law Gazette, BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 321. The act is dated 22 October 2026 and its new liability rules apply from 9 December 2026.

Which products fall under the new rules?

Products placed on the market or put into service from 9 December 2026. In Germany, products placed on the market up to and including 8 December 2026 stay under the 1989 act.

Are CAD files products under the new rules?

Digital manufacturing files are products: files that contain the functional information needed to produce an item by controlling machines or tools, such as 3D printing files. Whether a particular Inventor file qualifies depends on its use, and courts have not ruled yet.

Can a court force us to disclose our design files?

Yes. Once the claimant shows a plausible claim, a court can order the defendant to disclose relevant evidence, limited to what is necessary and proportionate, with measures to protect trade secrets. Failing to disclose leads to a presumption that the product was defective.

How long should we keep design records?

Claims expire 10 years after a product is placed on the market or substantially modified, and 25 years for latent personal injury. Keep released design, calculation, test and change records at least that long, in formats you can still open.

How does BORIS help?

BORIS for Autodesk Inventor registers CAD files with a blockchain timestamp from inside Inventor, so you can show which version of a design existed and when. It does not replace legal advice, insurance or your PDM system.