Certified email in the trade sector: how to use it as legal proof and reinforce its validity

Companies in the commerce sector base an essential part of their activity on establishing proposals and agreements with their suppliers and customers. These negotiations need to be communicated with agile tools, but always safeguarding their legal validity in case they need to be presented as evidence in a trial in the commerce sector. Certified email is an exceptional tool for these situations.

We develop this topic in the following points:

• Why are certified digital mails valid as evidence in a commercial trial?
• Types of communications where certified email is most useful as legal evidence in commercial litigation.
• Reinforcement tools to maximize the legal value of certified e-mails as evidence in commercial trials.

Will paper ever disappear as a medium of evidence in courts dealing with commercial matters? There are many companies in the commercial sector that ask themselves this question and, given the lack of unanimity in the answer, prefer to continue with the traditional format of paper documents for all their dealings.

However, despite all these advantages of digital communication tools, there are those who prioritize the legal aspect. They want to be sure that their negotiations and commercial agreements communicated through digital channels can be presented as reliable evidence in court.

Well, we argue why the certified email fully guarantees this legal validity. First of all, because an amendment has been made to the Code of Civil Procedure (Article 299.2), which includes these supports as evidence with legal value in a trial as long as these criteria are met:

• Guarantee the integrity and unalterability of the content and all data.
• The date and time of shipment can be checked and verified.

These requirements are met in certified digital mailings, provided that they are carried out by a Qualified Trust Service Provider, which is approved to perform this function by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service.

This homologation means that the data sent and received through these applications will be admitted as evidence in legal proceedings, even if they are in electronic format, as everything is produced according to the provisions of the regulation (EU) 910/2014 eIDAS.

If you want to know in depth the legal value of the certified email in a lawsuit, you can read our specific article. And if you need to know how to present it as evidence in a trial, our practical step-by-step guide explains it all.

Your company can rest assured and digitize its legal communications using certified email for this type of notifications:

• Presentation and approval of budgets. It is a very agile and accessible way for this type of exchanges in which modifications or queries are often made and quick responses are needed. Let’s not forget that, on many occasions, we work with deadlines or deadlines.
• Notices of maturities or changes of clauses. Again, these are communications in which it is key to be on time, an indisputable advantage of certified digital communications over conventional ones.
• Billing management. Unpaid debts can be claimed by certified email and, in the event of a dispute, you can present it in court and have it admitted as evidence.
• Processing of refinancings. All this management can be done with certified emails, which can be presented as evidence if something goes wrong and you have to go before the judge.

Still not convinced of the validity of these e-mails before the commercial courts? It is interesting that you know certain tools that reinforce and maximize this probative value.

Integrating them into your certified communications service is simple, at least at MailComms Group, where we always offer you a comprehensive and complete service. We refer, in particular, to the use of advanced encryption and authentication technologies. Especially for medium and large companies, a management with maximum security and in compliance with the strictest legislation on data protection (eIDAS and RGPD).

Certysign is MailComms Group ‘s exclusive technological platform for the management of your digital communications with guaranteed compliance with all mandatory regulations.