Registered electronic mail: itsme® signs the acknowledgement of receipt
With e-signature.eu’s registered electronic mail, the document is cryptographically protected and the recipient signs the acknowledgement of receipt with itsme® before accessing it. The sender gets formal proof of the content sent, timestamped and tied to a verified identity.
A registered mail is there to prove, not just to send
When you send a registered mail, you want to be able to show three things in a dispute: what was sent (and that the document has not been altered since), when it was sent and received, and who received it.
Paper registered mail answers this with a postal receipt and a signed acknowledgement of receipt. Registered electronic mail takes the same principle into digital form, with no trip to the post office, and goes further on one essential point: proof of the content.
With paper registered mail, the document placed in the envelope is not validated in any way: nothing formally proves what it contained. With e-signature.eu’s registered electronic mail, the document you send is cryptographically protected from the moment you upload it. Its fingerprint (hash) and qualified timestamp formally prove what was sent, and any later change would be detectable.
✉️ Paper registered mail
- Postal receipt: proof that the item was sent
- Envelope contents not validated: nothing formally proves what it contained
- Acknowledgement of receipt signed on delivery
🔐 e-signature.eu registered electronic mail
- Document cryptographically protected from upload (hash and qualified timestamp)
- Formal proof of what was sent: any change would be detectable
- Acknowledgement of receipt signed with itsme®, which carries the document’s hash
📋 What the eIDAS Regulation says
Article 43.1 of the eIDAS Regulation sets the principle: an electronic registered delivery service cannot be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form. For the proof to hold, the data transmitted must be intact, timestamped and traceable.
A plain email with a read receipt does not offer that guarantee: the recipient can switch the receipt off, nothing proves who clicked, and nothing shows afterwards that the attachment was not altered.
Why itsme® changes the value of the acknowledgement of receipt
Proving that a document reached an email address is weaker than proving that an identified person acknowledged receipt. That is where itsme® comes in.
In e-signature.eu’s registered electronic mail, the recipient signs the acknowledgement of receipt with itsme®, the digital identity app they already use to access their bank or public services. Their identity is verified at the moment of signing. itsme® is a qualified trust service provider under eIDAS, available in 32 countries.
✅ What the sender gets
An electronically signed acknowledgement of receipt, qualified-timestamped and tied to a verified identity, not just to an email address.
The 4-step process, from the sender’s side
🔁 The same logic as postal registered mail
As with postal registered mail, the recipient first signs the acknowledgement of receipt and only then gets the letter. With e-signature.eu, proof of receipt is therefore secured before they even read the document, and the signed acknowledgement carries the document’s fingerprint (hash): it is formally tied to the content that was sent.
What makes the proof reliable
Whichever service you choose, four elements determine how solid a registered electronic mail is. Here is how they appear in the e-signature.eu process with itsme®.
🔒 Content integrity
The document is cryptographically protected: its fingerprint (hash) is calculated at sending and included in the acknowledgement of receipt. It formally proves what was sent, which a paper envelope cannot do. Any later change to the file would be detectable.
🕒 Certain date
A qualified electronic timestamp protects the document from the moment it is uploaded, and a second one timestamps the signing of the acknowledgement.
🪪 Recipient identity
By signing with itsme®, the recipient acknowledges receipt with a verified identity, not with a simple click on a link.
📑 Audit trail
A full history of the steps (sending, signing of the acknowledgement, delivery of the document) remains available in your dashboard.
Who uses it, and for what?
Registered mail is not a niche need. It comes up regularly for freelancers and SMEs, liberal professions and private individuals.
🏢 Freelancers & SMEs
- Formal notice to a client or supplier
- HR notification (warning, dismissal)
- Termination of a commercial contract
- Convening a general assembly
⚖️ Liberal professions
- Lawyers: notifications and formal notices
- Accountants: transmitting official documents
- Estate agents: lease terminations, end of tenancy
🏠 Private individuals
- Terminating a lease or a subscription
- Complaint to an insurer
- Contesting an invoice
- Formal notice to a neighbour or a contractor
No subscription, with the same credits as your signatures
e-signature.eu runs on prepaid credits, with no subscription and no commitment. They are the same credits, at the same rate, as those used for your signature requests: no separate package to buy to send a registered mail.
💡 How much does a registered mail cost?
A registered mail whose acknowledgement of receipt is signed with itsme® uses 1 credit, i.e. €4.95 excl. VAT at the standard rate. The price per credit is degressive depending on the volume purchased. Whether you send one registered mail a year or several a month, you only pay for what you use.
A note on the legal level
⚠️ Qualified components, but not a qualified service
e-signature.eu’s registered electronic mail relies on qualified eIDAS components (Articles 41 and 43): a qualified electronic timestamp and an electronically signed acknowledgement of receipt. It is not a qualified electronic registered delivery service within the meaning of Article 44.
For the vast majority of professional and personal uses, this distinction has no practical impact. A few specific national provisions may nevertheless require a qualified service: if that applies to your situation, check the applicable rules before sending.
Before you send: three checks
✔ Checklist
- Is a delivery method required? Check whether the applicable rules or your contract prescribe one.
- Is the email address the right one? Use an address the recipient actually uses, ideally one they gave you for this kind of correspondence.
- Will you be able to find the proof later? Download the signed acknowledgement of receipt and the audit trail, and keep them with the case file.
For a complementary analysis of what a registered electronic mail proves, you can read the article published by itsme®: Registered electronic mail: what it proves, and when to use it.
Key takeaways
- The recipient signs the acknowledgement of receipt with itsme® before accessing the document
- The document is cryptographically protected from the moment of sending: formal proof of its content, which paper registered mail cannot provide
- It is qualified-timestamped and its fingerprint is included in the acknowledgement of receipt
- A full audit trail is available in your dashboard
- No subscription: 1 credit (€4.95 excl. VAT, degressive) per registered mail with itsme®, using the same credits as for your signatures
- Qualified eIDAS components (Articles 41 and 43), without being a qualified service within the meaning of Article 44
- Service available in French, Dutch, English, German and Spanish
Send your first registered electronic mail
No subscription, with the same credits as your electronic signatures.
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