Many email communications with other companies, customers, suppliers and others are currently being made in companies. In some cases, the information being transmitted is essential, and it is interesting to know if the other party has received and read the mail. Registered email is used to be certain, but a question arises: Is Registered email valid as evidence in a trial? We clear off your doubts.
What is reliable communication?
The first thing we need to know to know if a registered email is admissible in court is what is meant by reliable communication. Reliable communication allows proving that the recipient has received it and the time of receipt (date and time). For example, a letter delivered in hand to the recipient who signs their delivery, a telegram with acknowledgement of receipt, a burofax or communication via Notary are reliable communications. However, they require travel and expense; in most cases, there is another cheaper and more convenient possibility: Registered email.
Is a Registered email valid as proof in a trial?
Various evidence may be attached to the lawsuit or the response to the lawsuit, including emails on digital or paper media, in a court proceeding. These documents will be considered private documents, and the judge will evaluate them along with the other evidence provided. The problem arises when the other party to the trial challenges the authenticity of the emails, as it can be assumed that the emails could have been tampered with. In this case, to give validity to the proof of the mails, it is necessary to carry out other tests such as an expert report issued by a computer engineer that certifies the origin of the communication and that the content has not been altered. Finally, it will be the judge who decides concerning the test.
However, if emails certified by a certification service provider are submitted as proof, the integrity and authenticity of the emails shall be guaranteed. Therefore, all problems identified in the preceding paragraph shall be avoided.
The basis for a Registered email to be valid proof in a trial is as follows:
The certification service provider generates an evidence document in PDF format that includes the following information:
- The day and time of email delivery and receipt.
- Send and delivery IP addresses.
- Sender and recipient email addresses.
- Content of the email.
- Mail attachments.
- Timestamp
The Civil Procedure Act admits as evidence private documents and, among them, electronic communications. Article 326 establishes the following:
If any qualified trust service from those provided for in the Regulation mentioned in the previous paragraph (eIDAS Regulation) has been used, it shall be assumed that the document meets the contested feature and that the trust service has been provided correctly, if any, at the relevant time for the purpose of the discrepancy, on the list of trusted providers and qualified services
In addition, article 43 of the eIDAS Regulation provides concerning electronic registered delivery services:
- Data sent and received using an electronic registered delivery service shall not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence in legal proceedings solely on the grounds that it is in an electronic form or that it does not meet the requirements of the qualified electronic registered delivery service.
- Data sent and received using a qualified electronic registered delivery service shall enjoy the presumption of the integrity of the data, the sending of that data by the identified sender, its receipt by the identified addressee and the accuracy of the date and time of sending and receipt indicated by the qualified electronic registered delivery service.
Finally, the case law of the Supreme Court has also endorsed the validity of Registered email certified as evidence. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the Auto 2501/2013 of 21 March, which states that: “the court prosecutor obtained the effective notification and requirement in telematic form, with the electronic certificates attesting to the practice of this, issued by a provider of certification services”.
As a result of all of the above, a Registered email can be used as evidence at trial. Therefore, if you need to make a reliable communication that could be given in a trial, you can use Registered email through a certification service provider, such as Lleida.net. This service is available to you to send Registered emails with full legal validity for added security.