IRDirocks 🚀 ... and is the best of his year!

As has often been the case in previous years, the Faculty of Law at Philipps-Universität Marburg produced the best exam graduate last year in the form of Niko Gräser. Out of the 756 law students who successfully passed their first law examination in Hesse in 2024, Mr Gräser came first and was the only student to achieve an exceptional grade of ‘very good’ in both the state examination section and the university specialisation course. Congratulations on this truly exceptional success!

Since 2022, Niko Gräser has worked as a student assistant alongside his studies at the Chair of Public Law and the Law of Digitalisation (Johannes Buchheim), gaining his first insights into academic work in the process. He developed a particular interest in the rapidly growing and increasingly important field of digitalisation law, a particular focus in Marburg via the IRDi, founded in 2019, and a new area of study established in 2022. Over the next few years, Mr. Gräser will continue to work with the department as a doctoral candidate and research assistant, and will undoubtedly contribute to the newly established doctoral colloquium. Outside of his legal work, Mr. Gräser is involved in party politics and is a passionate drummer and tennis player.

Congratulations on this extraordinary success! 💐 The entire Institute for the Law of Digitalisation is delighted for you!

IRDi Institute Annual Conference 2025: ‘Digital Policy 2025-2029: Law - Finance - Consumers

12 May 2025 at the Congress Centre Marburg

This year's IRDi Institute Annual Conference took place on 12 May 2025 at the Congress Centre in Marburg. To enable as many interested parties as possible to participate, the conference was also available to attend virtually. The event was part of the BMUV research project 'Smart Contracts and Consumers (SmaCo)' and focused on current issues in digital policy, particularly the interfaces between law, finance, and consumer protection.

The conference began with a reception for participants, providing an opportunity for initial discussions over light refreshments and coffee. Professor Dr Florian Möslein opened the event and provided an overview of the day's agenda.

Programme overview:

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Segna from EBS Law School in Wiesbaden opened the academic presentations with a discussion of the urgent issues surrounding securities and custody legislation in his presentation, 'Reform of securities and custody law: uncertificated securities ante portas?'. The challenges of digitalisation in securities trading were discussed in particular.

Dr Susanne Grohé, from the Annerton law firm in Frankfurt, then presented an update on PSD3/PSR, covering the latest developments in payment transactions. Her presentation provided a detailed overview of the upcoming regulatory changes relating to the Payment Services Directives and the EU Payment Systems Regulation.

Participants then engaged in a lively discussion, sharing their thoughts and exploring different perspectives on the morning's topics.

After a short break, the conference resumed with a presentation by Beatrice van Trill from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). She considered whether a 'FinmadiG 2.0' is required in light of the emerging challenges in financial market regulation. She focused on the current and future regulatory needs of financial supervision in the context of increasing digitalisation and innovative financial products.

After lunch, the discussion moved on to consumer protection law. Professor Dr Christoph Busch from the University of Osnabrück shared his insights on 'Consumer Law for AI Agents'. His presentation focused on the legal implications of using artificial intelligence in consumer law and the resulting need for adaptation. He also addressed the regulatory requirements necessary to ensure that the use of AI agents is consumer-friendly and protective of consumers' interests.

This was followed by an in-depth analysis of EU regulatory perspectives on 'smart contracts' by Professor Dr Sebastian Omlor. In his presentation, he addressed the first EU-wide legal definition of a 'smart contract' under Art. 2, No. 39 of the Data Act, and compared it with the requirements for 'smart contracts' in data-sharing agreements under Art. 36 of the Data Act. The focus was on analysing the regulatory classification and its impact on contract, warranty and product liability law.

Prof. Dr. Francesco Martines and Prof. Dr. Valentina Prudente, from the University of Messina in Italy, then provided an international perspective on the topic. Among other things, they analysed the impact of new technologies on public sector application processes.

The event concluded with a discussion round and an outlook from the conference organisers. The intensive exchange and in-depth analysis clearly demonstrated the importance of closely interlinking science, practice and regulation in the development of digital policy. In particular, exchanging ideas with legal scholars from different countries provides insights into the legal regulation of other countries and enables legally relevant topics to be viewed from new perspectives.

The conference was a resounding success, providing participants with valuable insights into the current challenges and future developments in digital policy.

Annual conference of the Institute for the Law of Digitalisation

The next annual conference of the Institute for the Law of Digitalisation is coming up soon: on 25 October at the Philipps University of Marburg. The topic this time: Smart Contracts in the Financial Sector. Topics will include money & payment transactions (digital euro & CBDC, tokenised demand deposits & CBMT), banking transactions (lending, financial instruments) and the capital market (DeFi, settlement).

We are looking forward to presentations by Prof Dr Joachim Wuermeling, Liv Tschee-Wegert, Julia von Werder, Christian Altmann, Alireza Siadat & Dirk Kruwinnus - full of practical experience from Deutsche Bundesbank, DZ BANK AG, Deon Digital AG, Annerton, Boerse Stuttgart Group.

Full programme and registration at https://pretix.eu/irdi-zevedi/SmaCoFin/.