E-Delivery – advantages and timetable for the entry into force of the obligation

Currently, the use of e-delivery is voluntary for entrepreneurs. Ultimately, communication with public administration bodies is to be conducted exclusively online. The transition to electronic service will become mandatory already in December 2023 for certain professions such as attorneys-at-law, advocates and notaries.  

What are e-deliveries? 

E-delivery is a digital form of communication between citizens and entrepreneurs and public administration. The service enables sending, receiving and storing correspondence with authorities. Communication takes place through the National Electronic Delivery Systems. E-deliveries have the same legal effect as a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt and personal delivery and  ensure the identification of the sender and recipient. E-deliveries are regulated by the Electronic Delivery Act (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 285).  

What are the goals and advantages of switching to electronic delivery? 

The purpose of transition to electronic service is to facilitate and accelerate communication with public administration bodies and conduct of proceedings. Ultimately, correspondence with offices will be carried out exclusively electronically. This is simply another phase of digitalization of public administration. 

Advantages of e-delivery: 

1. Sending and receiving correspondence can take place at any time and any place that provides Internet access. The sender and addressee do not have to go to the post office to send/receive a letter  
2. The user can view and manage documents at any time  
3. By sending correspondence via e-delivery, the sender can be sure that it will go to the right person; no one but the addressee has access to the sent documents; the sender is always known, hence the certainty that no one is impersonating this person or institution  
4. No one except the sender and addressee has access to the sent correspondence  
5. The user can download legally valid evidence of who and when the letter was sent/received  
6. The service can be accessed by citizens, companies, government offices and other public bodies; all you need to do is create an e-delivery address to use the service; entities that have an e-delivery address set up by a non-public provider must also submit an application for e-delivery address to be entered into the Electronic Address Database.  

You can read about what exactly is an e-delivery address and the Electronic Address Database in another article by TGC experts here.   

For which entities and until when has the effective date of the obligation to switch to e-Delivery been extended? 

At the end of November, the Ministry of Digital Affairs held a meeting with representatives of entities obliged to switch to electronic delivery on the originally planned date. In the face of the submitted comments and demands, the Minister issued a statement in which he informed about the intention to postpone the date of entry into force of the first stage of e-Delivery implementation from 10 December 2023 to 30 December 2023, and then in a communication of 21 December 2023 Minister of Digitalisation set a new deadline of 1 October 2024. This applied to the following entities:  

• Attorneys-at-law, legal advisors, notaries, tax advisors, restructuring advisors, patent attorneys, government administration bodies and local government units 
• Business entities that register their business in the National Court Register (KRS) after1 October 2024 – create e-Delivery mailbox at registration 
• National Health Fund, Social Insurance Institution  

You can read more about the extension of the deadline for the implementation of e-Delivery in our last article.  

Important: Business entities registered in the National Court Register before 1 October 2024 have until 1 January 2025 to switch to e-Delivery.  

When is the maximum deadline to switch to e-Delivery? 

In the light of the applicable regulations, the maximum deadline for implementation of e-Delivery for companies falls on 1 October 2024 or 1 January 2025 – depending on the date of registration with the KRS.

Important: Courts, tribunals, bailiffs, prosecutor’s offices, law enforcement agencies and the Prison Service are required to switch to electronic service by 1 October 2029.  

From when will CEIDG registered entities be obliged to implement e-Delivery? 

The obligation to request setting up an e-delivery address (or to provide such an address – if they have one) will apply to:

• Companies submitting an application for entry into the Central Register and Information on Economic Activity (CEIDG) from 1 January 2025,
• Companies registered in CEIDG until 31 December 2024, submitting an application for a change of entry between 1 July 2025 and 30 September 2026.
• Other entities registered in CEIDG will be required to obtain an e-delivery address by 30 September 2026.

An updated schedule for the implementation of the obligation to use the National Electronic Delivery System can be found here.  

When and how to prepare for the transition to e-delivery? 

While replacing written communication with electronic deliverywill make it easier and faster to communicate with public authorities and conduct administrative proceedings, the transition to e-delivery can be challenging for organizations. This requires, among other things, a change in the internal procedures of electronic documentation circulation. There isn’t much time left before the obligation to use electronic delivery for commercial law companies comes into force, so it is worth starting the implementation process as soon as possible. TGC experts talked about the preparations for the implementation of e-delivery in the organizations during a webinar. Watch the recording here.   

Learn more:

E-delivery: See how we can help!

Legal basis: 

1. Act of 18 November 2020 on Electronic Delivery (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 285) 

2. Announcement of the Minister of Digital Affairs of 29 May 2023 on the deadline for the implementation of technical solutions necessary for delivery of correspondence using the public registered electronic delivery service or the public hybrid service and the provision of an access point to registered electronic delivery services in cross-border traffic in the ICT system 

3. Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC