De-Mail () is a German

e-government E-government (known for electronic government) involves utilizing technology devices, such as computers and the Internet, for faster means of delivering public services to citizens and other persons in a country or region. E-government offer ...

communications service that makes it possible to exchange

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

electronic document An electronic document is a document that can be sent in non-physical means, such as telex, email, and the internet. Originally, any computer data were considered as something internal—the final data output was always on paper. However, the ...

s 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 (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

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 or Services Directive, officially Services in the Internal Market Directive''2006/123/EC is a European Union law aiming at establishing a single market for services within the European Union (EU). Drafted under the ...

, which demanded that authorities accept

legally binding In law, liable means "responsible or answerable in law; legally obligated". Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law and can arise from various areas of law, such as contracts, torts, taxes, or fines given by government agenci ...

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 part of testing, inspection and certification and 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 attestatio ...

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 Registered mail is a postal service in many countries which allows the sender proof of mailing via a receipt and, upon request, electronic verification that an article was delivered or that a delivery attempt was made. Depending on the country, ...

, 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 (abbreviated as ID) is a documentation, document proving a person's Identity (social science), identity. If the identity document is a plastic card it is called an ''identity card'' (abbreviated as ''IC'' or ''ID card''). ...

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 End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a method of implementing a secure communication system where only communicating users can participate. No one else, including the system provider, telecom providers, Internet providers or malicious actors, can ...

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 identification 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

Only two companies are currently accredited as De-Mail providers * FP Digital * 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 sub ...

)

References

External links

English description of the project, from the German government
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108211242/http://www.cio.bund.de/cae/servlet/contentblob/302862/publicationFile/19290/demail_englische_version_download.pdf;jsessionid=67CDF558A731C30F8A4647FB86CB7852 , date=2022-01-08
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