City of Frankfurt postpones fax phase-out until the end of 2025

The city administration of Frankfurt am Main originally wanted to switch off its fax server at the end of 2024, but the plan came to nothing: “The eFax service will now probably continue to be offered until December 31, 2025,” said a spokesperson for the city administration at the request of c't. Some of the city's important communication partners are still dependent on fax in practice because they do not yet use mailboxes such as EGVP or eBO, the spokesperson explained.

In response to a query from c't, the city stated that these communication partners, “some of whom still send or expect faxes”, belong exclusively to the public sector. “This is currently mainly the case when working with courts or police authorities.” This involves, for example, the “additional transmission of time-critical information directly to the responsible persons”.

Not only fax machines are to go

When it comes to saying goodbye to faxes, the Frankfurt am Main administration is nevertheless one of the most ambitious authorities in Germany. The responsible office has not been procuring fax machines since mid-2022, and support for the devices was discontinued at the beginning of 2023. At that time, the city administration estimated that around 800 fax machines were still in operation. Originally, there were around 2500. Unlike other players in the public sector, however, the city also wants to switch off its fax server so that the authorities will no longer be able to fax on their PCs.

The fax is “not an admissible means of communication according to the Code of Civil Procedure (§130 ZPO) and the Administrative Procedure Act (§3a VwVfG)”, said the spokesperson. There are also “data protection concerns regarding the transmission of personal data (especially sensitive data)”. Alternatives include “special mailboxes” such as the EGVP and beBPo.

You can read more about this topic in D.digital, the newsletter from c't on the subject of digitization.

(cwo)