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What is an e-mail according to the law? Can it serve as proof ?
What do we mean by e-mail?
Article 1 of the law for confidence in the digital economy defined what an e-mail is: an e-mail is an electronic message sent by the Internet communication network and which includes either text or sound or an image. Thus, all messages addressed as such and containing text, sound, or an image, are considered by the legislator as e-mails and can therefore be used as evidence in court.
When can it be proof?
The email can only be used as evidence in court if sent using certification software. This software includes both the authentication of the signature of the author of the e-mail, the date of the e-mail message and its content. In the absence of this authentication software, the e-mail is not considered as proof since it is questionable on these pieces of information.
If not authenticated
If the e-mail is not authenticated, it only has the value of proof in criminal matters: indeed, in criminal law, any mode of proof is admitted and the judge does not decide cases only according to his intimate conviction. On the other hand, in all the other fields, the e-mail is only valid at the beginning of the proof, that is to say that it must respect a certain number of conditions: in addition to the date, the content and the author, the e-mail must also contain a certain amount of information such as the IP address, the connection numbers of the sender and the recipient, the IP address of the exchange, and the software of the exchange. In the absence of compliance with these conditions, the e-mail is not authentic.
DAMY law firm , Nice, Update 2022
