Germany's Bundestag has passed legislation introducing strict liability for shared e-scooter operators, meaning accident victims will no longer need to prove negligence to claim damages. Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig championed the overhaul, arguing that existing rules left injured parties bearing an unfair burden of proof.
Under the new framework, e-scooter rental companies face the same civil liability standards as car owners. That change is particularly significant for incidents involving improperly parked scooters, where victims previously had to demonstrate that a rider had parked the vehicle incorrectly. Hubig told lawmakers the tightened rules respond to a sharp rise in accidents.
The scale of the problem has grown rapidly. E-scooter accidents in Germany nearly doubled from about 5,500 in 2021 to almost 12,000 in 2024, with roughly 12,500 incidents recorded last year and 27 fatalities, all of them riders. In more than 7,900 of those 2024 cases, the scooter rider was found at fault.