Electronic Notifications: What are they and how to manage them?

Today, citizens and businesses are accustomed to carrying out their dealings with government agencies electronically, benefiting from the digitization of processes and services that, until a few years ago, required in-person attendance. This transformation in how the public administration interacts with businesses and citizens has required the evolution of the regulatory framework and the technological offerings available.

The Regulatory Framework

To find the origins of e-government, we have to go back to 2007. Law 11/2007 , of June 22 , on Electronic Access of Citizens to Public Services, recognized the right of citizens and businesses to communicate with public administrations electronically and required administrations to equip themselves with the necessary electronic means and systems to enable the exercise of this right. At this point, the administration was “required” to provide citizens and businesses with a general access point through which legal entities and individuals with access to the necessary technology could easily access information and services within their jurisdiction; submit applications and appeals; conduct hearings; make payments; and access notifications and communications sent to them by the Public Administration. These general access points are known as “Electronic Offices . ”

Three years later, in 2010, Royal Decree 1363/2010, of October 29 , was approved, establishing that certain notifications and administrative communications from the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT ) must be carried out electronically. This means that taxpayers subject to this requirement (legal entities, entities without legal personality, and, in some cases, individuals) must have an Authorized Electronic Address (DEH) and be registered in the AEAT’s electronic notification system. If they do not have a DEH, the AEAT will assign one to them.

In 2015, with the approval of Law 39/2015, of October 1 , on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations, the 2007 law was repealed and the mandatory use of electronic communication by all public administrations was reinforced, including the General State Administration, the regional administrations and the local administrations.

This regulation addressed a wide range of aspects related to the administrative procedure, such as the principles of the procedure, the rights and obligations of the parties, the deadlines, the notifications, the administrative appeals, among others.

The answer is no. Article 14 of Law 39/2015 stipulates that individuals may choose at any time whether to communicate with Public Administrations to exercise their rights and obligations electronically or not, unless they are required to do so. The chosen means of communication may be changed at any time.

They are required to communicate with public administrations through electronic means:

• Legal entities
• Entities without legal personality
• Those who practice a profession requiring mandatory membership in a professional association , for procedures and actions carried out with Public Administrations in the exercise of said professional activity. In any case, notaries and property and commercial registrars are included within this group.
• Those who represent an interested party who is required to interact electronically with the Administration
• Public Administration employees for the procedures and actions they carry out with them by reason of their status as public employees, in the manner determined by each Administration by regulation.

By regulation, public administrations may establish the obligation to interact with them through electronic means for certain procedures and for certain groups of individuals who, due to their economic or technical capacity, professional dedication, or other reasons, are shown to have access to and availability of the necessary electronic means.

What is the difference between an Electronic Headquarters and a Portal for the Concentration of Mandatory Electronic Notifications (NEO)?

• An electronic office is a digital platform that provides an entity (such as a public body, a city council, a state agency, etc.) with an online space where it can offer services and carry out electronic procedures. The office is the main access point for interacting with that entity in the digital sphere, allowing users to access information, submit applications, carry out procedures, obtain certificates, and perform other activities.
• A Mandatory Electronic Notification Portal (NEO), or mailbox , is a centralized platform that acts as an intermediary between the issuing bodies and the recipients. Its main function is to gather and present electronic notifications issued by different bodies in a single access point for users.

In Spain, there are various issuing bodies and electronic notification platforms that vary depending on the administration and area of responsibility. Below are some of the main issuing bodies and electronic notification platforms in Spain:

1. Tax Agency (AEAT)
2. Social Security Treasury (TSS)
3. Directorate General of Traffic (DGT)
4. Ministry of Justice
5. National Mint and Stamp Factory (FNMT)
6. Civil Guard
7. National Police
8. State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA)
9. Municipalities and Provincial Councils : Many municipalities and provincial councils have their own electronic offices where they issue electronic notifications to citizens and businesses. The addresses of these electronic offices vary depending on the municipality or province.

Different types of Electronic Notifications from Public Administrations

Public administrations use different types of electronic notifications to communicate with citizens and entities.

Below, we analyze some of the most common types of electronic notifications:

1. Simple electronic notification : This is the most basic type of electronic notification. It consists of sending a message or notice electronically informing the recipient about the existence of a communication or administrative document that is available for consultation on the corresponding platform or system.
2. Electronic notification with full content : In this case, the electronic notification includes the full content of the administrative act or document being communicated. The recipient can access the complete document and obtain all relevant information within the notification itself.
3. Electronic notification with electronic signature : Some electronic notifications require an electronic signature to guarantee their authenticity and integrity. In these cases, the notification is sent with an electronic signature that verifies its origin and ensures that the content has not been altered.
4. Certified electronic notification : This type of electronic notification has an additional level of security. A certification system is used that guarantees the notification has been sent correctly, received by the recipient, and its delivery has been recorded.
5. Electronic notification via text message (SMS) : Some public administrations may use text messages (SMS) as a form of electronic notification. The SMS may contain summary information or instruct the recipient to access a specific platform or system for further details.
6. Electronic notification via email : Public administrations may sometimes send notifications by email. In this case, the document or administrative communication is sent as an attachment or a link is provided to access the relevant information.

Electronic Notifications in different sectors

Today, the use of electronic notifications is widespread and we find their applications across multiple sectors:

• Utility notifications : Companies that provide public services such as electricity, water, and gas may send electronic notifications to inform customers about service interruptions, maintenance, billing, and other matters.
• Legal process notifications : Electronic notifications are used in many countries to notify citizens about legal processes in which they are involved.
• Tax notifications : Tax authorities may send electronic notifications to inform taxpayers about tax obligations, audits, information requests, among others.
• Work notifications : Companies can send electronic notifications to their employees to inform them about work-related matters, such as changes in company policies, meeting reminders, payroll, and more.
• Bank notifications : Banks can send electronic notifications to their customers to inform them about transactions, security alerts, changes in terms and conditions, and more.

What are the deadlines for collecting the Notifications?

The deadline for collecting a notification from the date it is issued by the Public Administration is 10 days. After this period, the notification expires, and some agencies no longer allow its digital download from their website. In these cases, in-person collection is required.

There are exceptions, such as in the case of the courts, whose notifications can have deadlines of only 3 days.

Once the notification has been issued, the issuing body considers it delivered, and it is the responsibility of the citizen or company to check the mailboxes to see if they have any pending notifications to collect.

What are the consequences of not collecting an Electronic Notification on time?

According to the resolution of the Central Economic-Administrative Court (TEAC) , the penalties for those taxpayers included in the mandatory electronic notification system may be up to €600,000 for failure to comply with information requests notified by the Tax Agency through electronic means.

The regulatory framework requires consulting the electronic requirements issued by the AEAT and complying with its deadlines.

Technology: Electronic Notification Management Systems

As we have seen, large companies, SMEs, and the self-employed are all legally required to communicate with public administrations through electronic notifications. This involves managing multiple mailboxes, all the digital certificates needed to access government websites, and a large volume of notifications, which must be addressed almost immediately to avoid penalties.

To deal with this burden, companies like Víntegris offer Electronic Notification Management Systems, which help companies centralize all the mailboxes of the public administrations and bodies to which they are subscribed into one solution.

nebulaSNE, Centralized System for Managing Electronic Administrative Notifications . Víntegris’ Centralized System for Managing Electronic Notifications, nebulaSNE , provides multiple benefits to organizations.

1. It connects with 10,000 organizations and public administrations to detect notifications issued to companies and automate their management through an automatic review system of recipients’ mailboxes.
2. Through the Alert System , the recipient is always informed, allowing them to download, catalog, archive, distribute and control notifications in bulk and from a single platform, nebulaSNE
3. Usage and Access Control – A central point for interacting with all notification systems and digital certificates. Users, their roles and access permissions can be configured, and action history can be tracked.
4. Bulk Download (manual or automatic) – Option to download the notification unattended
5. Multi-company Notification Collection – nebulaSNE manages notifications for a group of companies or several companies
6. Response Time Control – Configure alerts to monitor NEO response times
7. Automatic Monitoring – Automatic tracking of locations for new notifications
8. Smart Archive – Archives and categorizes notifications based on their nature (tax, legal, etc.)
9. Audit – Record of the actions performed on each notification by each user
10. Certificate usage control – Control of the use of certificates required for processing certain notifications through the nebulaCERT Digital Certificate Centralization technology

With nebulaSNE, companies of all sizes can know the status of their notifications in real time, saving time and avoiding costs in penalties for ignoring electronic notifications.

Contact us and start enjoying the benefits that nebulaSNE brings to your organization .