Contractual activity can benefit significantly from the use of new technologies, including those related to artificial intelligence (AI), which promise to automate the entire life cycle of such activity, from negotiations to contract execution and termination.
This is an issue that presents highly complex legal challenges, for which Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, better known as the AI Act, has not provided specific rules.
In this regard, the European Commission, in its recent communication on the AI Continent Action Plan (April 2025), has planned the approval of an Apply AI Strategy, which provides for actions to address issues relating to specific sectors, including automated contracting.
The EU aims in particular to identify the most effective policy instruments to facilitate the implementation of AI in this context as well, including through the adoption of a new strategy to facilitate the use of data in the development of AI systems (Data Union Strategy), which is intended to continue the direction set by the 2020 European Data Strategy.
Pending approval of the AI Apply Strategy, useful guidance for addressing the legal issues raised by automated contracting can be found in the Model Law on Automated Contracting (MLAC), published by Uncitral in 2024, which is relevant to the B2B sector.
The MLAC aims to facilitate contract automation, including through AI, as well as in relation to smart contracts and m-to-m (machine-to-machine) transactions, by providing rules to overcome the legal obstacles to the use of these technologies for both the formation and execution of contracts.
At the heart of this is the recognition of contractual autonomy and the freedom of the parties to use these systems, regulating them appropriately, in compliance with the applicable mandatory rules.
