A defective product caused me data loss as well as physical injury. Is data loss compensable?

What the Law Says

The EU’s Product Liability Directive establishes strict liability for producers when defective products cause harm. It defines what types of damage are recoverable — and notably excludes pure economic loss, including standalone data loss.

Under Directive 85/374/EEC, producers are strictly liable for damage caused by defective products. However, the Directive limits compensable damage to two categories: (1) death or personal injury, and (2) damage to 'private property' used for non-professional purposes.

Crucially, the Directive explicitly excludes 'damage to the product itself' and 'pure economic loss' — which includes lost profits, contractual losses, and data loss unconnected to physical harm or property damage.

Data — such as files, databases, or digital records — is not considered 'private property' under the Directive’s definition, because it lacks physical substance. Courts across the EU have consistently held that intangible assets like data fall outside the scope unless they are stored on tangible, privately owned hardware that also sustained damage.

Statutory Text

‘Damage’ means damage caused by death or by personal injuries and damage to, or destruction of, any item of property other than the defective product itself.

— Council Directive 85/374/EEC, Art. 9(a) — Definition of damage

Statutory Text

Damage to property shall not be covered… unless it is damage to private property intended for private use or consumption…

— Council Directive 85/374/EEC, Art. 9(b) — Property damage exception

Statutory Text

This Directive shall not affect any rights which an injured person may have… under any other system of liability in force in the Member States.

— Council Directive 85/374/EEC, Art. 13 — Preservation of national rights

Sources