Article 83 of the LOU (Organic Law 6/2001 of 21 December of universities) empowers departments, university research institutes and their teaching staff to make contracts with people, universities, and entities both public and private, for the fulfilment of scientific, technical or artistic work.

In accordance with the UMH Regulations for contracting scientific, technical or artistic work, teaching specialization and specific training activities, two modalities exist for contracting activities within the framework of Article 83 of the LOU: service provisions and contracts/agreements. Either one modality or the other will be used depending upon the characteristics of the work to be done and the contracting conditions.

Service provisions correspond to technical and specific work (essays, technical reports, legal and expert opinions…), carried out by a lone researcher. This modality can be used when the economic considerations are inferior to 12,000 €, the execution period is inferior to 12 months, and when it is not necessary to expressly regulate the conditions referring to the ownership of results, publications or liabilities of the parties.

When any of the preceding conditions are not met, signing a contract or agreement will be necessary.