Deutsche Post introduces “Internet Letter” (Brief im Internet)
Many people prefer to dash off a quick e-mail these days rather than writing a traditional letter. However, until now this was not an option when it came to writing official letters or sending registered correspondence, as these had to be committed to paper in order to be legally valid. The most important characteristics of Internet Letters compared to e-mails are that they are simple, secure and cannot be anonymous, as all users must clearly identify themselves. Senders and recipients can therefore be certain of the identity of the person they are communicating with and, thanks to the latest encryption technology, can be sure that their correspondence is not being viewed or edited by third parties. As in the non-digital world, Deutsche Post offers a complete service for the safe and reliable transfer and delivery of messages.
It should also be noted that such Internet Letters can also be delivered to recipients that are not connected to the postal service’s online portal. In such cases, the post office prints out the letter and it is delivered as normal.
The service, likely to be launched in July, will offer businesses, authorities, organisations and consumers secure, confidential and reliable electronic delivery of sensitive documents such as commercial or legal correspondence, contracts and invoices. Such a service cannot be guaranteed by free e-mail, according to the company. A hybrid delivery option is also available.
The first customers for the ‘internet letter’ include German automobile association ADAC, LOTTO Hessen, DekaBank, two insurance companies BIG Direktkrankenversicherung and Zurich Versicherung as well as the Kommunale Rechenzentrum Minden-Ravensberg/Lippe (krz) which handles correspondence for numerous local councils in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine Westphalia. These customers jointly have millions of customers, including ADAC with 17 million members alone. Talks are under way with other large companies and organisations.
