New obligations related to the introduction of electronic delivery
In order to comply with the imposed obligation, non-public entities (including commercial law companies) will be obliged to submit an appropriate request for the creation of an electronic delivery address via the biznes.gov.pl portal. Moreover, entities that are not natural persons will have to appoint an administrator of an electronic mailbox who will be authorised to activate and further manage it.
In addition, an Electronic Addresses Database will also be established into which entities which have created an e-delivery address will have to make an entry of their address. It should be emphasised that due to the introduction of the principle of the presumption of electronic delivery, said entry will be equivalent to expressing consent that any future letters are to be delivered electronically from that moment on, to that address. Importantly, only public entities will be able to find the e-delivery addresses of the entrepreneurs.
From a practical point of view, delivery via an electronic mailbox will have the same effect as delivery via a registered letter with an acknowledgement of receipt. The moment of delivery via the electronic mailbox will be the moment of receipt of the document, i.e. the moment when the addressee has taken the action which makes it possible for them to be in possession of the document and become acquainted with its content. If the correspondence has not been received by the addressee, the letter sent by a public body is deemed to have been served 14 days after the delivery of the correspondence.
The Act also introduced a number of exceptional situations in which its provisions will not apply, and these concern the delivery of correspondence:
- containing classified information;
- issued in proceedings under the Act on Public Procurement Law;
- issued in a procedure for the award of a concession contract for works or services;
- in other situations in which separate regulations stipulate that correspondence should be delivered by different technical means (e.g. in court proceedings).
Date of entry
From 10 December 2023, the abovementioned obligations will apply to public trust professionals and new entrepreneurs registering in the KRS from that date.
Non-public entities registered in the KRS before 10 December 2023 have until 10 March 2024 to implement the new obligations.
New entities entered into the CEIDG will be obliged to gradually start using the system from 1 January 2024, whereas those entered in the CEIDG before this date only need to start using the system after 20 September 2026.
In addition, non-public entities can request an electronic delivery address starting from 5 October 2021.
Sanctions
The Act does not stipulate any sanctions or negative consequences for not having an e-delivery address. The solution applied by the legislator in this situation will be the use of a hybrid mode, i.e. the public entity will send the letter in electronic form and then the service provider will have to print it from the electronic system and deliver it to the addressee in the traditional form of a paper letter.
Summary
To conclude, the Act imposes two obligations on entities subject to registration in the KRS or the CEIDG:
- to have an electronic mailbox, and
- entry in the Electronic Addressed Database.
These changes have been introduced so as to simplify and speed up the circulation of documents in administration and among businesses, and to replace the paper form of documents. This will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the flow of communication between public and non-public entities and will eventually reduce the costs of correspondence.
Authored by Tomasz Żak, Hubert Kruk, Karolina Brzozowska-Wojtacka.
