Using the Electronic Court and Administration Mailbox (EGVP) with NoSpamProxy
Digitization has also led to fundamental changes in the legal and administrative sectors. One of the most important developments was the introduction of the Electronic Court and Administration Mailbox (EGVP), which enabled the secure exchange of documents between citizens, companies, lawyers, authorities, and courts. The EGVP has since been replaced by specialized electronic mailboxes such as beA, beN, beBPo, beSt, and eBO—each with a clearly defined scope of application. The following overview shows the development from the original EGVP to today’s solutions and explains how they work in practice.
What is the EGVP?
The Electronic Court and Administration Mailbox (EGVP) is a communication infrastructure that has been in use since 2004, enabling authenticated participants to transmit electronic documents and files to participating courts and authorities.
The EGVP enables secure email communication for legal and administrative purposes, for example, to submit and deliver electronic pleadings, applications, or other documents in a legally compliant manner. The transmission is encrypted and electronically signed, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of the messages.
Software was also developed for the EGVP, the EGVP client (later Governikus Communicator). This enabled citizens, lawyers, and companies to access the EGVP infrastructure and transmit briefs to courts and authorities. The software was discontinued in 2018.
The EGVP is dead. Long live the EGVP!
The EGVP no longer exists as a standalone system in its previous form. Although it used to be the central system through which almost all electronic messages to courts or authorities were sent, it has been replaced by special electronic mailboxes:
beA – Special electronic mailbox for lawyers
The beA is intended to enable lawyers licensed in Germany to communicate securely with the judiciary, public authorities, and each other.
beN – Special electronic notary mailbox
The beN is used for electronic communication with courts and enables electronic documents to be submitted to courts. In addition, courts can use the beN to serve documents to notaries in exchange for an electronic acknowledgment of receipt.
beBPo – Special electronic mailbox for government authorities and public institutions
The beBPo primarily provides a secure transmission channel for electronic communication with courts and bailiffs, but also enables communication with other participants in electronic legal transactions (ERV).
beSt – Special electronic tax advisor mailbox
The beSt is an electronic mailbox for tax advisors of the Federal Chamber of Tax Advisors.
From 2004 to 2018, there was an EGVP for everyone, but today each profession and each authority has its own mandatory mailbox that uses the EGVP infrastructure.
A special case: the eBO – Electronic mailbox for citizens and organizations
The eBO is aimed at citizens, companies, and other organizations that do not have mandatory mailboxes, such as lawyers or public authorities. It enables secure and legally binding communication with courts – for example, for filing a lawsuit, appeals, or other legal documents.
The eBO thus enables digital participation in the justice system: lawyers and public authorities must communicate via their mandatory mailboxes, and the eBO also provides private individuals and companies with a secure and modern means of communication. Before the eBO, there was the EGVP for private individuals and companies; this role is now fulfilled by the eBO.
Access is provided via special software solutions (e.g., Governikus Communicator or law firm software). To ensure security, a qualified electronic signature (qeS) or the use of eID is required.
Using EGVP, beBPo, and eBO with NoSpamProxy
Since 2022, all federal and state authorities, as well as other public institutions and bodies under public law—such as health insurance companies, chambers, and broadcasting corporations—have been required to set up a beBPo and use it to participate in electronic legal transactions. This makes beBPo the government equivalent of the mandatory mailboxes used by other professional groups.
The key difference between beBPo and eBO is that eBO is voluntary and open to anyone who does not fall into the above-mentioned mandatory categories – i.e., citizens and organizations who also want to use secure electronic legal communication.
Nevertheless, both mailboxes have one thing in common: they can be used together with NoSpamProxy without any problems.
Connecting the EGVP-based mailboxes beBPo and eBO to NoSpamProxy is easy: The Mentana gateway from Mentana Claimsoft/FP Digital Business Solutions can be integrated into NoSpamProxy as standard. Thanks to the integration of EGVP, beBPo, and eBO, it can be used to access beBPo and eBO mailboxes without any configuration effort.
All you need to do is create a corresponding outbound SMTP send connector in NoSpamProxy, through which the beBPo- or eBO-compliant messages are routed. It is crucial that you store the beBPo or eBO domain in the DNS routing restrictions.
Once this has been done, the configuration is complete and the Mentana gateway can take over at this point.
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