One of the pillars on which product liability law is based is the defence for development risks. According to this defence, the producer is not liable for the damage caused to the injured party if, at the time the product was put into circulation, the state of scientific and technical knowledge did not allow the existence of the defect to be discovered. The Proposal for a Directive drafted by the European Commission and published on 28 September 2022 continues to provide, in Article 10.1.e), the defence for development risks. The Proposal for a Directive refers to this particular issue in Recital 39, which introduces some requirements for the assessment of such defence.

However, despite this recognition, does this defence fit into the digital paradigm, and how can it be applied to damage caused by defects in products with digital elements that incorporate artificial intelligence?

This paper explores the everyday lives of low-paid, low-skilled EU migrant workers living in and around Great Yarmouth in the East of England both pre- and post-Brexit. It considers the legal problems they face, especially around employment law, and how those problems may be resolved. It draws on the results of quantitative and qualitative research to examine the reach of law into the everyday lives of vulnerable EU migrants. We term our research ‘pragmatic law’ (PL) because our experience is that most legal issues, at least with the groups we are working with, do not enter any formal legal resolution pathway at a community level. They are addressed in the everyday, often by first-tier generalist (and sometimes volunteer) advisers with no formal legal training, who make no express reference to ‘the law’. This access to advice and problem resolution at a street level can be a lifeline to those living at the margins of the workforce.

There is significant concern about potential ecological effects of introduced organisms, including non-indigenous species and those created by genetic modification. This paper presents an Ecopath with Ecosim modelling approach, designed to examine long-term trophic effects of growth hormone (GH) transgenic coho salmon should they ever escape to a coastal salmonid ecosystem, namely the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia (Canada). The model showed that the effects of introduced GH transgenic coho salmon varied with their biomass, diet, structure of the invaded ecosystem, and environmental conditions. Occasional escapes of non-reproductive salmon did not have a significant impact on the example ecosystem. However, effects of GH coho salmon varied with their diet when large numbers of these fish were present in the simulated ecosystem (for example, when they constituted 20% of total current aquaculture production in the area). Further, climate-driven changes in the biomass of low trophic levels (bottom-up effects) could have a greater impact on the ecosystem than the introduction of large numbers of GH coho salmon. A new version of Ecopath with Ecosim's Monte Carlo approach showed that the model predictions were robust to GH coho salmon's Ecopath parameters, but more sensitive to vulnerabilities of prey to GH coho salmon. Modelling ecosystem effects of genetically modified organisms provides a complementary approach for risk assessments when data from nature are not readily obtainable.