On October 7, following the presentation of the model contract in May of this year, Professor Dr. Georg Borges and other experts presented a contract guide for Industry 4.0 platforms. This contract guide is an interim result of working group 4 "Legal Framework" of the Legal-Testbed project. The UAG Legal-Testbed has formulated conditions of participation in an Industry 4.0 platform that aim to balance regulations between operators and users.

Participation in the Industrie 4.0 platform raises questions on data protection, trade secrets and many other aspects on the part of operators and users: What rights and obligations do participants have? What design options are available? What user data is collected and what happens to the former? The legal experts approached the open questions from different perspectives.

Professor Georg Borges first introduced the research of the Legal-Testbed project. The aim is to support companies in the legally secure automation of contract formation as well as its execution, thus ensuring a legally and IT secure transition into Industry 4.0. He estimates that "smart contracts" will be applicable in the industry within one or two years.

Martin Schweinoch, SKW Schwarz, described the platform with all its possible features and potential uses. The platform will be accessible for all companies and offer equal benefits to every participant. Users can also offer services to each other.

Other speakers comprised Dr. Alexander Duisberg, Bird&Bird, Dr. Ulrich Keil, Schaeffler AG, Dr. Christine Payer, Dürr AG, Dr. Philipp Haas, Robert Bosch GmbH, Dr. Philipp Haas, Robert Bosch GmbH and Dr. Nick Wittek, Jones Day. Patrick Zeitvogel of the Plattform Industrie 4.0. office hosted the webinar.

The Industry 4.0 Recht-Testbed project, funded by the BMWi, is researching the legal and technical foundations of Industry 4.0 and developing services for the general public. The chair of Prof. Dr. Borges is working on the legal requirements.

The contract guide can be downloaded here for free.