De-Mail is a German

e-government E-government (short for electronic government) is the use of technological communications devices, such as computers and the Internet, to provide public services to citizens and other persons in a country or region. E-government offers new ...

communications service that makes it possible to exchange legal electronic documents between citizens, agencies, and businesses over the Internet. The project was originally called Bürgerportal and has been implemented by the German government in cooperation with private business partners in an effort to reduce the communication costs of public administration and companies. The project was announced in 2008 and was approved by the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

and the Bundesrat in early 2011. The De-Mail law (which serves as the legal basis for the service) went into effect on May 2, 2011.Federal Ministry of the Interior
: De-Mail Law, May 2nd 2011

Background

With the introduction of De-Mail, the German legislation implemented the EU

Directive on services in the internal market The Bolkestein directive (officially Services in the Internal Market Directive''2006/123/EC is an EU law aiming at establishing a single market for services within the European Union (EU). Drafted under the leadership of the former European ...

, which demanded that authorities accept

legally binding A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

electronic communications by the end of 2009. The government specifies legal and technical requirements for the services but does not provide the services. The services are provided by private companies which are allowed to provide De-Mail services after passing an official

certification Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

process.

Services

Besides email communication, other services are specified that support the communication process. * De-Mail is the email communication service which also specifies several ''options'' commonly known from postal mail, such as registered mail, personal delivery (delivery only to the recipient, not to any representatives), delivery and pick-up notifications. * De-Mail accounts can be registered by individuals and companies that require identification of the applicant. Email addresses for individuals have the form .@.de-mail.de (but can also be registered for pseudonyms if marked as such); companies can also register subdomains in the form of .de-mail.de. * De-Ident allows users to request signed

proof of identity An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID card, citizen ca ...

from their provider (based on the identification during the account sign-up process) which can then be forwarded via De-Mail to e.g. online shops to provide proof of identity, age, etc. * De-Safe provides users with encrypted online storage for documents. Usage of this service does, however, not fulfill the legal storage and archiving requirements for documents.

Usage

Usage should be voluntary for all users, and should only be an additional option to postal mail.

Criticism

Several aspects of the law have sparked criticism of the system. * Communication between De-Mail and regular email addresses is not possible. The same applies to clients using the ''electronic court and administration mail'' ( Elektronisches Gerichts- und Verwaltungspostfach) which already provides legal electronic communication between courts and other participating governmental organizations. * End-to-end encryption can be offered by the providers but is not mandatory. This would make it possible for providers to read emails before transmission and can constitute a possible point of attack. However, users can still apply encryption before sending De-Mail messages. * The data provided during the identication process for the account creation is centrally stored and available to the authorities. The De-Mail law even specifies naming the account owner to private individuals. * Official notifications are delivered once they are available in the recipient's mailbox. This is contrary to the postal mail, where a letter is only seen as legally delivered after it has been accepted by the recipient.

Current providers

The following companies are currently accredited as De-Mail providers * Mentana-Claimsoft * United Internet AG (brands GMX, 1&1,

Web.de United Internet AG is a global Internet services company headquartered in Montabaur, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The company is structured in two business areas, ''Access'' and ''Applications,'' and has a total of 16 brands and numerous subsid ...

) In the process of accreditation is: *

Deutsche Post The Deutsche Post AG, operating under the trade name Deutsche Post DHL Group, is a German multinational package delivery and supply chain management company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is one of the world's largest courier companies. T ...

References

{{reflist

External links

English description of the project, from the German government

de-mail.de
- Official Website (German)
State-of-the-art De-Mail (26. January 2011)
(German)
The Register (7. March 2011)
Technology in society Public administration Open government in Germany