Robots Liability or Liability for Products?

Abstract

The article studies the relationship of liability arising during production, acquisition and use of robots and software. It is necessary to create the minimum comfortable conditions from the economic, legal and administrative points of view to develop the robots market. This is first and foremost the creation of an environment open to innovation, which requires legal transparency. The issue of the need to adjust the legal regulation especially in the field of civil and business legislation is to be considered to create conditions for the robots implementation. The study analyzes the existing institutions and concepts of the long-term legal regulation. The issue of the means of communication between a human and machine is also to be considered including the impact on the legal principles of regulation of relations of liability. The definition of liable parties implies the possibility of giving the robot a special legal personality, for example, giving it the status of an electronic person. The current European legislation on liability in tort and damage is studied against the rules of Directive 85/374/EEC. Various mechanisms to ensure and protect the interests of consumers and users of electronic devices are considered. It is assumed the obligation of robots liability insurance, as it has been already implemented for vehicles, the creation of special funds, the establishment of a liability limit, etc. for the practical use of liability mechanisms.