Companies must be reachable by email

What exactly is the statutory obligation for companies to provide an email address for contact and communication purposes? The Regional Court (LG) Berlin has commented on this matter.

The Federal Association of Consumer Centres and Consumer Organisations brought an action against the internet corporation Google. It contended that contacting the internet corporation using the email address "support-de@google.com" specified in Google's imprint led only to an automated response email from the corporation. This stated that the user's email would not be read and referred to a large number of help pages and online forms that would first have to be completed.

Court's decision

The Regional Court (LG) Berlin decided in itsjudgment of 28.08.2014; Az 52 O 135/13that the specification of the email address did not serve to identify the company. In requiring the specification of an email address for direct contact, the law required something that went beyond mere identification in the imprint.

However, the court also made clear that it was not required that every individual email be reviewed and answered by an employee. It was not about a duty to check, but rather the guarantee that communication could take place at all. In individual cases, even the use of a pre-formulated standard text could be sufficient; however, this was not the case if no communication was enabled at all. The response that emails would not be read, but that completion of contact forms was necessary for contact to be made in the first place, did not meet the statutory requirements for contact.

Conclusion

The judgment of the Regional Court (LG) Berlin means for companies that they must actually be "available for contact" by means of the email address they have specified for their users.