From 1 January 2023, an amendment to the Act on Electronic Acts and Authorised Conversion of Documents will come into force. The Ministry of the Interior will automatically set up a data box for millions of Czechs and foreigners. The whole process will take place gradually until March 2023. What changes will this step bring?
Until now, the state has made data boxes mandatory only for legal entities registered in the Commercial Register (typically, for example, LLCs) and specified entrepreneurial natural persons (such as attorneys, tax advisors or court interpreters).
The new list will also include natural persons registered in the Personal Records Database (i.e. self-employed persons/ trade license holder/ freelancer/ živno) and legal persons registered in the Personal Records Database (BRP), i.e. non-business legal persons (i.e. all associations, foundations, but also unit owners’ associations, contributory organizations, cooperatives, etc.). The voluntary establishment of a data box will thus remain only for natural persons.
If you belong to one of the above-mentioned groups and do not have a data box yet, you will receive a notice to pick up a letter between 1 January 2023 and 31 March 2023. In the letter you will find the login details for your newly established data box. However, if you do not actively log in to your data box, it will be automatically activated 15 days after you receive your login details. From then on, all public authorities will only communicate with you via your data box. It will not be possible to cancel a data box set up in this way.
Watch out for delivery fiction and automatic deletion of messages
You can find out when any message has been delivered to your inbox from an email notification, but you must set up the notification actively. However, to view the content and attachments, you must log in directly to the data box via the website or the Mobilní klíč eGovernmentu app.
If you do not log in to the data box, after 10 days the so-called delivery fiction applies and the message is automatically considered delivered. Upon delivery, all deadlines and obligations start to run. If you do not check your data box regularly, you may miss the deadline and this may not be worthwhile.
Either monetarily or, in the case of foreigners, by deportation. In addition, all messages are automatically deleted after 90 days, so you should store attachments on your device or pay extra for a Data vault service (Datový trezor).
How can you simplify the whole thing?
Looking for a way to make using your data box easier? Do you want to be able to see in your email what message you have received and be able to respond to it? We have a new free service called Saamo, which allows you to do everything about your data box yourself (data box in my email).
