23-06-2021

bpost is launching a free time-saving service throughout Belgium. With Sign For Me, you can have your registered mail delivered to your home, even when you’re not there. All you need to do is drop by the post office or a post point to give bpost power of attorney. No more waiting, no more stress planning a journey and finding a parking space to pick up your undelivered registered mail.

Greater convenience
Registered mail has to be signed for at the time of delivery. If the addressee is not available, the mail carrier has to leave a failed delivery notification. The addressee has to pick up the mail item from the post office or post point stated on the notification within 15 days.

bpost works every single day on improving the customer experience, and that includes registered mail. You can now give bpost a power of attorney authorizing the mail carrier to deliver most registered mail items without undermining the legal value of registered mail. All you need to do is visit your local post office to register with your ID card. Afterwards you will be sent an email with a link to confirm your subscription.  The new service will be available at all post offices and post points across Belgium to private households only, from the beginning of August 2021. In the near future you will also be able to subscribe to the service via the My bpost app, where you can already track your parcels and registered mail.

Note: You will still need to sign to take receipt of some registered mail items. The mail carrier will continue to present registered mail with proof of receipt (including legal documents), as the addressee’s signature will still be required for these items.  Registered mail for which outstanding customs duties are payable are also excluded from the Sign For Me service, as are electoral registered mail, registered mail with declared value and registered mail items that are too large to fit through the letterbox.  Registered mail cannot be delivered to nonstandard and insecure letterboxes.

Mandatory signature without power of attorney
The delivery procedure for registered mail, parcels and pensions was updated in March 2020 to ensure the rules of social distancing could be followed during the height of the covid pandemic. Mail carriers were authorized to sign for delivery in the presence of and on behalf of the addressee.  These provisional measures will be lifted as the situation improves and the government gradually eases restrictions. From 1 July 2021, addressees will have to sign for receipt of their secure product on the mail carrier’s device, unless they subscribe to the new Sign For Me service.

Full details at https://www.bpost.be/nl/faqs/faq/sign-me

Source: bpost