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The strategy aims to create legal certainty on automation and robotics in European factories, to increase take-up of these technologies.

On Monday, Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society and Digital Agenda lead, hosted a meeting with stakeholders to discuss legal and regulatory barriers to automation and robotics technologies in factories in Europe. The results of this meeting feed into an upcoming ‘Digitising Industry’ strategy by the European Commission, tackling legal uncertainty and creating a legal framework for more take-up of automation and robotics by European industry.

Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, said:

"The message I received today is very clear: there is an urgent need for European industry, Member States and European Commission to act together in order to benefit fully from the opportunities offered by digital technologies in a European digital single market."

The Commission is looking at four main unsolved legal issues:

1. Liability - who to consider liable for the actions of autonomous machines
2. Integration of machines at the workplace - artificial intelligence and sensors allow machines to work alongside humans at a substantially lower health and safety risk, thus an update of product safety regulation may be necessary
3. Protection against faulty software – ways of improving the protection for citizens and businesses incases of malfunctioning software
4. Data Protection – clarify data protection rules on new types of data, such as data generated by the automatic monitoring of work processes​

The strategy is expected to have a pronounced focus on SMEs, including a plan to create regional digital innovation hubs to help SMEs in their transition towards digital. The strategy will further link up national and regional initiatives in order to help successful local efforts reach scale.

Notably, in its preparatory document, the European Commission stated EU companies ‘have missed out to reap the full potential of online platforms’. The Commission states it will support the creation of digital industrial platforms in Europe, building on European leadership in sectors such as automotive, aeronautics and energy. For more information check out techUK's work on the European Commission work stream on ‘Online Platforms’.

Oettinger is expected to present an Action Plan on ‘Digitising Industry’ at the Hannover Fair on 25 April.

If you would like to find out more about techUK’s work on the Digital Single Market contact Laura Weidinger, European Policy Manager

T 020 7331 2045

E laura.weidinger@techuk.org