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Challenge and mission: The law must keep pace

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

Ambiguities in contract determination, liability, antitrust behavior, the (collaborative) use of data and the disruptive effects of artificial intelligence on entrepreneurial activity present companies with the task of legally compliant implementation.

The Working Group on the 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 politicians.

EU digital strategy and legal acts

Shaping the European Union as a digital space and making it secure, 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 formulates 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
• Interaction with 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 are creating enormous economic and innovation potential, while partners can quickly become competitors.

This raises new questions:

• Who may cooperate with whom and under what conditions?
• What significance does access to data have for market power and how can the sovereign use of data be safeguarded?
• How can the regulations and at the same time the digital business models of partners in data spaces be taken into account?
• What organizational and legal framework do sovereign players need in functioning data spaces?

The working group is pursuing these questions in an interdisciplinary manner and incorporating a wide range of expertise for the various aspects of the topic.

Employment law

The digitalization of industrial processes is leading to changes in workflows in all areas of companies. Professional and personal requirements for employees and managers are changing 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 that is sensibly filled in by the social partners. This framework is examined in the working group, which is currently focusing on

• in-company training,
• Handling employee data in the company,
• a framework for hybrid working and
• Challenges in the introduction and use of AI.

Artificial intelligence

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

The Task Force on AI and Regulation is looking at the EU's AI Act and its implications in terms of

• Risk classification of AI,
• the scope of application of the AI Act and
• Liability for companies

and identifies possible solutions from a legal and technical perspective.

The Task Force on AI and IP Rights works out the legal implications of the respective steps in the 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 analyse 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 lawyers from the working group want to tackle the following measures:

• Publish up-to-date recommendations for action on the most important legal issues from the Industrie 4.0 environment,
• Establish new, agile communication formats with legal content in order to enter into a dialog between the legal community and Industrie 4.0 companies,
• Develop and implement support formats for all companies that are embarking on the path to Industrie 4.0 with their company (e. g. workshops and web seminars).

The bundled legal knowledge of the Plattform Industrie 4.0

The digitalized industry does not stand still – the more than 70 experts in the working group therefore always keep an eye on developments. In order to optimally meet the challenges of digitalization, data sharing and the legal issues raised by the use of AI, the working group deals in particular 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, politicians and public authorities. In addition, the working group meets three to four times a year to consolidate its work and work on its common vision.