Poland adopted a new act on e-delivery. It aims to move al official correspondence from state administration bodies into online space. Polish post operator, Poczta Polska, will provide for the service. Digitally excluded citizens can benefit from the so-called hybrid mail.
Polish President signed a new act on electronic delivery at the end of November 2020. In mid-December, the act was still waiting for publishing in the collection of laws. It took more than a year from the initial introduction to the adoption of the regulation.
The act will introduce an obligation for public authorities to send registered post exclusively in electronic form. Public authorities and entrepreneurs will have to establish an official electronic address and have it recorded in a public registry. The obligation does not hold for individuals. In case they are not ready to receive official correspondence electronically, they can benefit from the so-called hybrid mail.
A hybrid mail means that the postal operator receives an electronic mail from a public authority and delivers it in paper form. That requires that the postal operator implements new processes for the conversion in paper format and enveloping.
It is assumed that a designated postal operator will provide for the e-delivery and hybrid mail services. Until the appointment of an operator, to be selected in a tender, the act provides for an interim designation of Poczta Polska until the end of 2025. That date matches with the end of the period for which Poczta serves also as the designated universal service provider.
The implementation of the new way of delivery will proceed in several stages for various categories of obliged entities, beginning from September 2021 with the central administration bodies through e.g. territorial self-government bodies from January 2024 to courts from October 2029.