Government mailbox becomes more user-friendly: whoever receives a message via eBox will be able to reply | Inland

The eBox has been in existence since 2018 and is now used by 2.5 million people in Belgium, says State Secretary for Digitization Mathieu Michel (MR). The use of eBox received a boost in the corona pandemic, but the tool needs to be more user-friendly for Michel.

The eBox will therefore soon work in two directions, according to a preliminary draft law by Michel, which was given the green light at the federal council of ministers on Friday. Anyone who receives a message via the eBox will therefore also be able to reply to it, and no longer has to go through the website of the government service in question.

In addition, the intention is that notifications of electronic registered mail can also be sent via the eBox, albeit only for those who also give explicit permission for this and only for recognized platforms.

The same innovations apply to companies, but there is an additional obligation to activate the eBox by January 1, 2025. This also applies to the federal government services that send many registered mail, such as the federal government services Finance and Justice. Private persons are not obliged to activate the eBox. Moreover, they can always receive government communication on paper.

The preliminary draft law is now first submitted to the social partners, the Data Protection Authority and the Council of State for advice, after which it still has to go through the parliamentary process. The expansion runs parallel with technological innovations that should improve the ease of use of the tool.

Economy Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne (PS) is also satisfied with the decision. This is “another step in the right direction in the field of digitization. With the e-Box project, both citizens and companies will eventually get a real digital letterbox”, says Dermagne.