eLEGAL


	Advances in ICT are enabling the construction industry to work ‘virtually with highly flexible groups of organisations collaborating on projects in the UK, across Europe and even across the rest of the world. These arrangements rely on network technologies for communication.
	However, a range of legal issues are beginning to emerge which threaten to inhibit their growth and prosperity. This is mainly due to the lack of solid contractual basis which govern the electronic exchange of information and documentation within and between such virtual enterprises (VEs).
	This results in a duplication of work, being done electronically and on paper, rendering ICT to be an extra cost rather than an enabler. Examples of the emerging legal issues are proof of receipt of electronic data (such as drawings and emails), ownership of information, access rights, company Vs project information and handling object based information.
	These types of issue were the main motivation behind the formation of a consortium to undertake research in this area, in the form of the eLEGAL project.
	The main aim of eLEGAL is to define a framework for specifying legal conditions and contracts to enable a legally admissible (exclusive) use of ICT in project business. In this way, all parties involved in the VEs, including SMEs, will be confident that there is a legal framework regulating their new ways of working leading to more trust and hence, improved business relationships.