Validity of a Burofax

Validity of a Burofax

The sending of a Burofax is a service that allows to send documents to third parties in an urgent manner. It is one of the most used means of communication in the legal field. As it is considered a reliable communication with probative value, the content of the text is accredited, as well as the sender, the addressee and the date of sending.

What is the legal validity of a burofax?

As it is a physical document that is delivered in the hand of the addressee, under signature that accredits its content, this one has probative value judicially and extrajudicially.

Therefore, the sending of a burofax is a proof that we will be able to exhibit before third parties since it is a reliable communication.

Likewise, the Civil Code in its article 1.973 establishes that “The prescription of actions is interrupted by their exercise before the Courts, by extrajudicial claim of the creditor and by any act of recognition of the debt by the debtor.”

Hence, the judgment of the Supreme Court 877/2005, of November 2, states that the exchange of correspondence by letters/burofax is sufficient to support an extraprocedural interruption of the limitation period.

However, in order to assert the burofax as evidence before the courts, we will need to have: Certified copy, acknowledgment of receipt, certification of delivery and delivery note, and this, in order to be able to prove the sending of the same.

The burofax and the points it accredits

The burofax has numerous uses due to its legal probative value and the security it provides as a means of communication. Some of the most common are:

• Payment demands.
• Claims to companies.
• Notifications in the labor field (sick leave, dismissals, ERE, ERTE…).
• Communications in bankruptcy proceedings.
• Notifications of termination of contracts.
• Notifications between landlords and tenants.
• Notifications of meeting summons and resolutions.
• Requesting and confirming the cancellation of service providers (water, electricity, telephone, insurance…).

As an example, the sending of a Burofax was the means used by former Barça player Leo Messi to notify and request his departure from the club. Messi’s lawyers chose this type of notification to formally state that a document has been sent, a claim has been made, a circumstance has been notified or a right has been exercised. Thus, Barcelona will be able to discuss in a hypothetical lawsuit whether or not the player can leave, but not that, on the date of the sending, he asserted the aforementioned clause.

Also, both the law and the contract itself may oblige the parties to communicate in a “reliable” way, that is, through a means that guarantees or certifies its veracity, as is the Burofax.

What happens if a burofax is not collected?

The burofax, which is sent from a Post Office (although it can be done through any computer by their virtual offices), can be rejected, but there is jurisprudence that considers the sending as valid even if the receiver does not accept it. There are even judges who understand the refusal as a work of bad faith.

In accordance with the above, the law is crystal clear in this regard: “a Burofax not delivered because it is refused or not withdrawn does not imply an accreditation of lack of knowledge on the part of the addressee but on the contrary they prove the reluctant will (i.e. the renunciation to be notified) of the same to collect the corresponding documentation (Judgment No. 31/2012 of AP La Rioja, Section 1ª, February 6, 2012)”.

When sending a burofax, the copy delivered at the time of sending is kept signed by the employee and the copy of the content is deposited in the Post Office if the content has to be justified. The signature of the addressee at the moment of receiving it is also conserved. In the document of the sent burofax provided by Correos, a certified copy of the content is included and in the service notice provided by Correos, the addressee and a copy of his signature at the moment of reception are indicated, proving the fact of having received the communication.

Therefore, when a burofax is delivered, the identity of the individual or legal entity that has received the communication is stated and, in case it cannot be delivered, the details, justification and circumstances that have prevented such delivery.

In conclusion, and in spite of all the services that have arisen since the creation of the burofax, its creation continues to be the form of physical communication that generates the most evidence and that, therefore, provides us with the greatest legal security when it comes to record the sending of a communication.