When is an email “received” in a business environment?

Key Facts

Access is a central legal concept that is decisive for many legal issues.
Clarity about access is often contentious, especially in digital communication.
Traditional interpretations, such as the letterbox, are not always applicable to digital communication.
BGH has made an important decision on e-mail communication in business transactions.
An e-mail is deemed to have been received if it is available for retrieval on the mail server within business hours.
The actual collection of the e-mail is not necessary for access.
Details of the decision can be found in the full reasons for the judgment.

The legal term “access” is relevant to numerous legal issues. When exactly this is the case, however, can be disputed in individual cases, because well-known interpretations such as “when a letter has entered the sphere of power” are only of limited use for digital communication.

Now the Federal Court of Justice has commented on this.

In this respect, the decision is very reminiscent of the good old “mailbox”.

If an e-mail is made available for retrieval on the recipient’s mail server during normal business hours, it is generally deemed to have been received by the recipient at that time.
The fact that the e-mail is actually retrieved and taken note of is not required for access.

The whole decision can be found here.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.

Tags: Bgh digital E‑mail Legal issues Legal question Mail Server