Automotive & Mobility
GvW Graf von Westphalen has been providing comprehensive and successful advice in the automotive and mobility sectors for many years. The firm's lawyers support companies from Germany and abroad at all levels of the supply chain. The expertise of the competence team in the focus area includes, in particular, advising on questions of contract drafting, product safety/product liability and warranty law, as well as representation in judicial and extrajudicial proceedings. Another area of expertise is ESG & Sustainability. Our lawyers in the Automotive & Mobility focus area are also happy to provide support on labour, corporate and antitrust law issues or on the topics of digitalisation and data protection. By combining our various areas of expertise, we work with you to shape the mobility of the future – strategically, economically and from a single source.
Our Focus Areas
Supply Chain
- Drafting and negotiating supply contracts
- Reviewing and enforcing supply and recourse claims
- Advising on (threatened) delivery stops and price adjustments
- Securing rights in the supply chain (in particular in the event of product defects and recall decisions)
- Process and risk management
- Reviewing and drafting terms and conditions of purchase and sale
Product Liability and Product Safety
- Tortious product and producer liability
- Implementation of national and international recall actions
- Representation before national and international market surveillance authorities
- Criminal and liability product responsibility of board members, managing directors and senior executives
- External Cyber Liability Counsel Position
Autonomous Vehicles
- Liability for (partially) automated and autonomous driving
- Advice on contract design and data protection law in relation to the software and hardware required for autonomous driving, including the application and implementation of agile process models
- Advice on IT security and data protection in the context of autonomous driving/networked vehicles (M2M communication)
Electric Mobility & Alternative Drives
- Liability issues regarding all types of mobility technology
- Product and service-related liability cases
- Advice on major loss events (e.g. transport ship fires) and all types of fire
- Issues regarding product safety and market access, including homologation issues
- Data protection advice on charging apps and charging infrastructure with a view to analysis and amortisation options
- Advice on the sale and leasing of charging stations, as well as their operation
- Advice on charging and energy management, billing services and monitoring for electromobility customers
- E-fuels, direct air capture plants
Mobility Services
- Rental, car subscription
- Car sharing
- Ride-sharing, ridehailing and ride-pooling
- On-demand mobility
- Mobility as a service
- Mobility flat rates and multimodal mobility platforms
- Micromobility (including e-bikes, e-scooters)
- Insurance concepts for residual value protection
Financing and Leasing
- Banking law advice to automotive banks and non-captive banks
- Vehicle financing
- Vehicle leasing
- Dealer financing (including wholesale financing/support programme)
- Advice to credit institutions on cooperation (including with manufacturers)
- Comprehensive advice on supervisory law (German Banking Act [Kreditwesengesetz - KWG], Payment Services Oversight Act [Zahlungsdiensteaufsichtsgesetz – ZAG], etc.)
- Compliance & money laundering
- Advice on annex products in financing and leasing (instalment protection insurance, etc.)
Dispute Resolution
- Judicial and extrajudicial defence and enforcement of claims
- Interim relief
- Independent evidence proceedings
- Arbitration proceedings (alternative dispute resolution and preventive measures)
- Large-scale and mass proceedings as lead and sub-law firm (processing of more than 10,000 cases possible)
ESG
- Green trade, with advice on the Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains or the „Supply Chain Act“ [Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz - LkSG], Deforestation-Free Supply Chains (EU Deforestation Regulation - EUDR) or the prohibition of forced labour
- Green transformation, with advice on topics such as the energy transition, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
- Greenwashing
- Social responsibility corporate governance
- ESG compliance
Patents and Protection of Innovation
- Patent litigation (incl. validity / emergency proceedings) / litigation (enforcement / defence; DE/EU, UPC) – focus areas: Electronics, electrical engineering, mechanics, drive technology, digitisation, green tech (hydrogen, e-fuels, filter systems) and smart mobility (connected cars)
- Enforcement proceedings (patents / utility models, registered designs, design patents), employee invention law, infringement of know-how / trade secrets and border seizures
- (Non-technical) IP litigation (incl. summary proceedings / injunctions) / legal proceedings (enforcement and defence; DE/EU) in the areas of design law, trademark law and software copyright (incl. unfair competition protection)
- Innovation protection (incl. conflict prevention, contract drafting; enforcement / defence and strategic advice (including FTO)Technology transfer, R&D and licence agreements (drafting, enforcement and conflict prevention) as well as transactional IP (M&A, due diligence, review of title transfers)
- Technology transfer, R&D and licence agreements (drafting, enforcement and conflict prevention) as well as transactional IP (M&A, due diligence, review of title transfers)
Technology and Data Protection Law / Cybersecurity
- Drafting modular IT contracts and IT terms and conditions
- Contractual advice including conflict prevention for extensive IT projects involving open source software (OSS, FOSS) and complex licence and IP structures on the supplier and user side
- Advice on IT security law (cybersecurity) including TISAX and NIS-2 directive
- Advice on data protection law, in particular regarding "privacy by design"and "privacy by default"on the product and user side (B2B, B2C)
- Extrajudicial and judicial advice and representation in IT, data protection and (software) copyright-related disputes
- Innovative rules for the commercialisation of data and amortisation of investments, including multi-layered co-operations
- 360° legal frameworks for (inter alia, cyber resilience and co-operation) networks (including competition and labour law compliance, etc. by GvW specialists)
- Advice on cyber insurance and alternative coverage concepts
After-sales Service
- Structuring of after-sales systems
- National and international B2C disputes (in particular on fundamental issues)
- Warranty systems and contracts
- Product and market surveillance
- "We know the end customer business and can act on it"
- AI-based maintenance and customer care frameworks
Transport & Logistics
- Transport contracts (including incorporation of service description) for all transport media (road, rail, air and sea transport) worldwide
- Storage contracts from spare parts and production storage to consignment storage contracts
- Contracts for intralogistics processing (including incorporation of service description)
- Regulations for capacity and price adjustment
- Contracts for traffic control/management – 3PL / 4PL contracts
- Disputes in the event of damage
- Supplier contracts for the implementation of digital solutions
Specialised Vehicles
- Special transport vehicles (low-bed trailers, heavy-duty modules, SPMT, ship section transporters, wind systems, load capacities of over 10,000 tonnes)
- Agriculture and earth-moving machinery
- Crane systems, tower cranes
- Ambulance and fire engines, refuse collection and suction vehicles, crane vehicles, etc.
- Combination risks (product liability risks when combining own products with third-party products)
- "MBAG single-invoice transaction", "ABH single-invoice transaction", "double-invoice transaction"
Distribution Law
- Advice on national and international distribution law regarding the cooperation with national and international agents/dealers
- Commercial agency law and authorised dealer law, such as defence against actions for accounting statements and compensation claims under Section 89b of the German Commercial Code [Handelsgesetzbuch - HGB]
- Advice on the structuring of distribution systems (e.g. agency distribution or dealer networks) as well as the design of model contracts and support in contract negotiations
Employment and Labour Law
- Individual and collective legal issues related to the flexibilisation of work (e.g. working hours and shift models, home office, workation, matrix topics, use of temporary work)
- Support with operational changes / restructuring and reorganisation projects from the planning / preparation and negotiation phase with reconciliation of interests and social plan negotiations, conciliation boards, transfer companies, to implementation
- Negotiation of company and reorganisation collective agreements
- Classification and reclassification according to collective agreements, including ERA
- Representation before authorities (e.g. approval procedures under the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act [Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz – BEEG], the Severely Disabled Persons Act [Schwerbehindertengesetz – SchwbG], mass dismissals)
- Advice on short-time working
- Representation before all labour courts in judgment, order and conciliation proceedings
- Drafting of contracts for corporate bodies, advice and support in the event of amendment or termination, if necessary legal representation before the civil courts
Export Control & Sanctions
- Export control classification of goods and checking prohibitions and licensing requirements under German foreign trade law, the EU Dual-Use Regulation, the EU sanctions regulations and US law (including technology and knowledge transfer)
- Application procedures at the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (export licences, zero notifications, information on the list of goods, preliminary enquiries, other enquiries)
- Representation in appeal proceedings against authorities and before national and European courts, as well as in administrative fine and criminal proceedings
- Review and auditing of existing compliance structures and development/optimisation and implementation of new ones
- Development and review of export control and sanctions confirmations and (contractual) clauses in the supply chain
Customs
- Classification of goods and obtaining binding tariff information
- Customs valuation, in particular of licence agreements, provisions and transfer pricing agreements
- Determining the origin of goods and exploiting autonomous and contractual tariff preferences
- Customs debt law, including defence against import duties and subsequent customs duties, as well as remission and reimbursement of duties
- Representation in application proceedings (customs authorisations and simplifications), appeal proceedings, fine and penalty proceedings before national and European courts
State Aid Law
- Registration and application procedures for the granting or approval of subsidies/subsidies in the automotive sector
- Recovery proceedings
- Competitor lawsuits and complaints against subsidies
- Compliance with subsidy law and subsidy law training
- State aid due diligence and solution strategies to avoid recovery risks or conditions in corporate transactions, in particular in connection with the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR)
- Research and development aid, research cooperation and contract research in the field of environmentally friendly and innovative mobility concepts
GvW Graf von Westphalen has advised Hexad on the sale of its Mobility Services Platform business unit to Volkswagen Group company CARIAD. Following approval by the antitrust authorities, the transaction was completed. The parties have agreed not to disclose the amount of the transaction.
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Our Services
- Antitrust
- Banking and Banking Supervision Law
- Capital Markets
- Commercial Criminal Law
- Construction Law
- Corporate
- Distribution Systems Law
- Employment and Labor Law
- Energy Law
- Finance
- Insolvency Law
- Insurance Law
- International Trade
- IP, Media and Competition
- IT and Data Protection
- Law on Food and Animal Feed
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Patents and Know-how
- Public Commercial Law
- Public Procurement
- Real Estate Law
- Restructuring
- Sanctions Law
- State Aid and Subsidies
- Tax Law
- Telecommunications
- Transport and Logistics Law