Future Law Reform: the Law Commission Announces its Fourteenth Programme

The Law Commission has announced its 14^th Programme of Law Reform (September 2025). 

Following a public consultation, the Law Commissioners have identified ten new projects to consider potential law reform: 

1. Agricultural tenancies
2. Commercial leasehold
3. Consent in the criminal law
4. Deeds
5. The defence of insanity
6. Desecration of a corpse
7. Management of housing estates
8. Product liability
9. Public sector automated decision-making
10. Ownerless land

These projects will be in addition to ongoing projects. Also, the Programme identifies further potential projects that may warrant attention in the future, such as to consolidate or streamline the legal framework for data sharing and information law.

Take by way of example two projects that made it into this Programme - potential law reform for public sector automated decision-making, and also for product liability for emerging technologies.

Automated Decision-Making ('ADM') by public bodies

ADM consists of decisions made by or for public bodies using algorithmic process and artificial intelligence. There is no specific legal framework for ADM by public bodies which affect the public. Existing public laws are for regulating human actions and not those made by ADM. 

The Programme notes that judicial review is ‘not well-suited to scrutinising decisions made using ADM’. It further notes:

Developing a coherent legal framework to facilitate good and lawful ADM can reasonably be described as the most significant current challenge in public law. ADM will inevitably become more and more prevalent, and the legal principles of the 20th century need to adapt to the technological advances of the 21st Century. There are legal risks and potential harms to the public and public confidence in government when ADM goes wrong. This will undermine the potential benefits of ADM.

Potential outcomes from the project include recommendations for: (1) an overarching legal framework for ADM; (2) bespoke law reform for ADM in particular departmental areas; or (3) a best practice guide on the lawful use of ADM and considerations to take account of when developing policy and legislation.

Product liability for emerging technologies

The Programme notes that the UK's product liability regime has not kept pace with emerging technologies. For example, there are challenges such as the existing regime's definition of ‘product’, ‘defect’, and what qualifies as ‘damage’.

Other jurisdictions have already sought to update their rules. An example is the EU's updated product liability regime.

Issues this project will address include the following: 

1. The question of updating the definition of “product” in the Consumer Protection Act 1987 ('CPA') to expressly include software, whether supplied via tangible or intangible medium. 
2. Whether the “long-stop” liability period of ten years should be extended, given that some products arising from emerging technologies can be upgraded iteratively. 
3. Whether the “state of the art” defence should be amended to account for emerging technologies that can be updated iteratively. 
4. Difficulties for claimants in pursuing claims with respect to highly technical and opaque technology, such as AI. 
5. Whether the definitions of “defect” and “damage” in the CPA should be amended to take into account the impact of emerging technologies.

If you would like to discuss how current or future regulations impact what you do with AI, please contact  Brian Wong, Tom Whittaker, Lucy Pegler, Martin Cook, Liz Smith or any other member in our Technology team.  For the latest on AI law and regulation, see our blog and newsletter.

This article was written by Zac Bourne and Tia Leader.