Activation is the process that enables an electronic mailbox to be used for the delivery of electronic submissions, official electronic documents and electronic acknowledgements of receipt. A foreign person’s electronic mailbox is not automatically activated upon its creation. To activate the mailbox, the foreign person must submit a request using the activation function available in the mailbox. The electronic mailbox will be activated free of charge on the date specified in the request, but no earlier than the third working day following receipt of the request.
If your electronic mailbox has been activated for electronic delivery, public authorities may deliver official electronic decisions, including attachments, to your mailbox with the same legal effect as decisions delivered in paper form. Under the e-Government Act, unless otherwise provided by specific legislation, documents are delivered either without requiring personal receipt confirmation (ordinary delivery) or into the recipient’s own hands, with deemed delivery applying. The specific legislation governing the procedure followed by a public authority in a particular matter determines which official decisions must be delivered into the recipient’s own hands and which may be delivered by ordinary delivery.
Public authorities may deliver decisions using three standard forms available in their electronic mailboxes or through individually created decision forms.
1. General Agenda – Decision Delivered into the Recipient’s Own Hands, with Deemed Delivery
When a decision is delivered into the recipient’s own hands, deemed delivery always applies pursuant to Section 32(5)(b) of the e-Government ActOpens in a new window.
An electronic message is considered delivered if you confirm the delivery notification. The electronic acknowledgement of receipt records the exact date and time of delivery, including the hour, minute and second.
The message is also considered delivered if the storage period (15 days) expires and you have not confirmed the delivery notification within that period.
2. General Agenda – Decision
If a public authority does not deliver a decision into the recipient’s own hands, the message is deemed delivered, pursuant to Section 32(5)(c) of the e-Government Act, on the day immediately following the day on which it was deposited in the electronic mailbox (i.e. the point at which the decision becomes objectively available in your electronic mailbox).
3. General Agenda – Decision Delivered into the Recipient’s Own Hands
If a public authority is required to deliver a decision into your own hands under specific legislation, pursuant to Section 29(1) of the e-Government ActOpens in a new window, it may use the form entitled “General Agenda – Decision Delivered into the Recipient’s Own Hands”. The contents of the decision will become accessible only after you confirm (authorise) the delivery notification. However, if the storage period (15 days) expires and you have not confirmed the delivery notification within that period, the message is considered not delivered. If specific legislation establishes different conditions for delivery, storage periods or the legal consequences of the storage period expiring without confirmation, the decision must be delivered using an individually created decision form.
The legislator has also taken into account situations in which, for objective reasons beyond your control, you are unable to receive official electronic decisions and familiarise yourself with their contents. For this purpose, Section 33(1) of the e-Government ActOpens in a new window establishes the legal mechanism of ineffectiveness of electronic delivery. Instructions on how to submit a request for a declaration that electronic delivery was ineffective can be found in the “ManualsOpens in a new window” section, under the part intended for natural persons or legal entities.
