Bavarian administration reduces number of fax machines by half
Bavaria's administration has banned half of its fax machines. The Digital Minister announced Bavaria would be the first federal state to eliminate fax machines.
The Bavarian administration already has more space on its shelves: the authorities have sorted out around half of their fax machines.
(Image: pook_jun/Shutterstock.com)
Bavaria has halved the number of fax machines in the administration within six months. This means that there are now 1869 devices in use – compared to 3766 in December last year. The Minister of State for Digital Affairs, Fabian Mehring, declared shortly after taking office at the end of the year that he wanted to ban fax machines from the administration. "The aim is to transmit all documents within and between Bavarian authorities in digital form," announced the State Ministry for Digitalization. The politician hopes that this will avoid media disruptions, accelerate administrative processes, reduce bureaucracy and allow artificial intelligence to be used by the authorities.
"Fax machines are a relic from the digital Stone Age and do not fit in with a modern state in the age of AI," said the minister. He wants Bavaria to play a pioneering role nationwide. "Through end-to-end digitalization in Bavaria's administrative communication, we are creating the basis for the use of artificial intelligence in state administration and making the Free State fit for the leap into the AI age."
Minister praises the rapid implementation of his project
Mehring praises the fact that his announcement has been implemented so quickly. "It's all the better that words and deeds match, and that half of the digital fax dinosaurs have been sent to the museum just a few months after my initiative."
The Digital Ministry is currently working on an alternative to fax. This should be user-friendly, legally binding, data protection-compliant and secure, the ministry emphasizes. The administration is currently trying out various solutions. Bavaria also wants to introduce its own electronic seal for public authorities. Nothing will change for citizens or businesses as a result of these changes, the ministry emphasizes. "Anyone who wants to can continue to fax documents to the authorities, which will then be processed completely digitally."
If the ministry has its way, local authorities should also switch to digital communication channels. There are various offers to support this - for example through funding programs or co-financing. Mehring insists that it is not a PR stunt to do away with fax machines. "Digitalization means more than simply moving existing processes online," says the politician.
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