Challenge and mission: The law must keep pace

Industrie 4.0 applications are increasingly changing business processes and models. The changes bring new challenges for many companies: How do they apply current law to their digitalized production, today and tomorrow? 

Insecurity in establishing contractual terms, questions of liability, antitrust, the (collaborative) use of data and the disruptive effect of artificial intelligence on entrepreneurial activity present companies with the task of legally compliant implementation. 

The Working Group Legal Framework shows where German and European law stands and identifies opportunities and challenges. The working group's recommendations for action systematically highlight the fields of Industrie 4.0 and offer companies, from start-ups to corporations, an overview of the current legal situation. From the EU digital strategy to labor law and artificial intelligence, it shows where existing law applies and how, and where there is a need for action for companies and legislation. 

EU digital strategy and legal acts

Shaping the European Union as a digital space that is safe, mobilizing the sovereign use of data and enabling value creation – these are the goals of the EU digital strategy, which go hand in hand with far-reaching regulation at EU level.  This has a direct impact on the legal framework for Industrie 4.0 from both a labor and economic perspective. The working group focuses on specific regulations and issues recommendations for their implementation in companies. At the same time, it reflects the challenges that companies face in practice at a political and legislative level and thus makes a constructive contribution to improving the legal framework for Industrie 4.0. 

The current focus is on the EU legal acts on

• cyber security
• product liability
• Data Act
• AI Act and
• effect of GDPR.

Multilateral data sharing and the foundations of data ecosystems

Digital markets are changing the way companies work together: New opportunities for sharing and collaborative use of data create enormous economic and innovation potential, while at the same time partners can quickly become competitors. 

New challenges arise: 

• Who are the actors to enter cooperation and under which conditions?
• What does access to data mean in terms of market power and how can we secure the sovereign use of data?
• How can data spaces cater for regulations and enable digital business models of partners at the same time? 
• What is an appropriate organizational and legal framework for sovereign players in a functioning data space? 

The working group follows an interdisciplinary approach to these questions and involves a wide range of expertise for the various aspects of the topic. 

Employment law

The digitalization of industrial processes alters workflows in all parts of the company. Professional and personal requirements for employees and managers change and require continuous further training. On the other hand, the introduction of modern technologies in the organization leads to new tasks for employees and management. All of this requires a reliable legal framework for social partners to act in and implement. This framework is examined in the working group, currently focusing on: 

• in-company training
• managing employee data in the company
• legal framework for hybrid work
• introduction and use of AI. 

Please see the download section to find the publication "Corporate continuing training: A challenge in the digitalised world of work" written jointly with working group "Work, Education and Training".

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence has a disruptive effect on both companies and society. The increasing use of AI in more and more operational areas relieves the burden on humans, sometimes even replacing them. But how can existing and newly introduced legal standards be applied to this technology? In its task forces, the working group investigates this question in different areas. 

The Task Force on AI and Regulation concentrates on EU's AI Act and its implications in terms of 

• risk classification of AI
• scope of application of the AI Act
• liability for companies 

and identifies possible solutions from a legal and technical perspective. 

The Task Force on AI and IP Rights elaborates on the legal implications along the respective steps in development and use of AI models. 

The Task Force on AI and Contract Drafting deals with the contractual handling of risks when purchasing products with built-in AI and the legally compliant use of data for training your own AI models. 

Creating legal certainty and legally assessing new trends

The overarching aim of the working group is to analyze the challenges of Industrie 4.0 from a legal perspective and to provide companies with legal certainty by making recommendations for action on the path to digitalization. 

To this end, the members of the working group want to tackle the following measures:

• publish up-to-date recommendations for action on the most important legal issues in the realm of Industrie 4.0,
• establish new, agile communication formats with legal content and encourage a dialogue between the legal community and Industrie 4.0 companies,
• develop and implement support formats for all companies that embark on the path to Industrie 4.0 (e. g. workshops and web seminars). 

Pooled legal expertise of the Plattform Industrie 4.0 

The digitalized industry does not stand still – more than 70 experts in the working group therefore always keep developments in check. To meet the challenges of digitalization, data sharing and the legal issues raised using AI, the working group deals with questions relating to artificial intelligence from both a legal and a technical perspective, thus pursuing an interdisciplinary approach. The working group thus takes full account of the need to comprehensively address the topic of AI, its increasing importance in industrial applications and the simultaneous increase in regulation at European level. 

The thematically assigned task forces regularly exchange information on their key topics and make recommendations to companies, legislation, and public authorities. In addition, the working group meets three to four times a year to consolidate its work and develop further its common vision.