As of this month, courts in the Slovak Republic will send their documents electronically to those citizens that have activated their government-supplied electronic mailboxes, the country’s Minister of Justice announced. Courts will send rulings, payment requests, court orders and all other documents electronically, the Ministry writes, warning users they therefore need to regularly check for messages.
The Slovak government is encouraging citizens and companies to register to use the mailboxes. “The aim of introducing electronic boxes is more efficient and faster communication with the authorities”, the Ministry of Justice writes.
To help set-up the mailboxes, the ministry added a list of questions and answers.
Messages delivered to registered and activated mailboxes have the same legal status as documents sent by post. To access the mailbox, users must combine an eID card and a security code. Users can configure their mailboxes to receive notification of new messages by email or by SMS.
This summer, the country’s National Agency for Network and Electronic Services (NASES) announced it had created over 300,000 electronic mailboxes for Slovakian companies. Not all of these have been activated, however.
European countries that have similar government messaging services include Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.