Faxes to become a thing of the past in the civil service

The Digital Policy Ministry is scrapping the fax from the civil service as a means of handling documents but also in its transactions with the public.

According to a circular published this week, as of the beginning of the new year, all documents should be digitally distributed to all public sector bodies, municipalities and regions, as well as their legal entities.

The circular also asks all public services and municipalities to procure scanners, if they do not already have them, and to create an email address (e-mail) for each organizational unit.

Apparently many municipalities have been ready for the transition to the new era for some time now but could not take the necessary step as other public bodies and services had not kept up and communicated exclusively by fax. 

An employee of the Nikaia Municipality in western Athens said, “We are obliged to have it because the police only contact us by fax when they need to inform us about something.”