EGVP Service

You can view the detailed basics and current announcements from the judiciary in the Justice Portal . You can also download the latest guides there. 

We provide real-time information about ongoing and resolved disruptions on our status ticker.

How to use the status ticker:

• Open – Open the link and view the current status overview.
• Filter – Sort by affected services or time periods.
• Subscribe – Optionally receive automatic updates via email or RSS.

The ticker is continuously updated, so you always have the latest information without needing to open a ticket with us.

If everything is correct in the sender's add-in, but the sent log shows a json file as the sent attachment, it means that the attachments are not being correctly mapped to the message by the Mentana Gateway. 

This happens either because the sender's mail gateway signs the message before sending, or it alters the content, preventing us from processing the message correctly. 

The solution is: The sender's IT department must forward the message unchanged from their mail gateway to the Mentana Gateway. This cannot be fixed by our IT or service team.

In the Electronic Court and Administration Mailbox (EGVP), an electronic confirmation of receipt (eEB) can only be requested by the judiciary. 

For other user groups, such as citizens or organizations, requesting an eEB is not provided for. 

This restriction arises from the legal requirements of electronic legal communication, particularly from the Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO) and the corresponding ordinance on electronic communication with courts and public prosecutor's offices (ERVV).

The manual for the add-in is always installed with it. You can view it at any time in the Outlook Add-in tab under Info or Configuration.

If you are dealing with changed settings that were correctly configured in the gateway but are being overwritten and given different properties upon sending, we need the message as a file to understand what exactly happened, both in the form it was sent and in the form it was received.

For this, please send us the message as a .eml file or send us the header. 

You can find instructions on how to do this by clicking here, or attached below. 

If the add-in is installed, an add-in log would be very helpful. The header can also be displayed via the add-in.

No

Because EGVP and De-Mail are separate platforms, independent of each other in terms of legal and security technology, based on different protocols (OSCI vs. SMTP/IMAP with S/MIME) and trust ecosystems, and since no gateway or intermediary service is legally or technically prescribed, messages can only be sent and received within their respective systems.

Yes

The eBO ("electronic citizen and organization mailbox") is a secure, end-to-end encrypted transmission channel within the framework of electronic legal communication. Citizens and organizations can use it to send encrypted messages to courts and authorities – an electronic signature replaces the handwritten signature. Since June 1, 2022, the eBO has been integrated into the EGVP infrastructure and is therefore also addressable in the beA system, identifiable by the EGVP role "egvp_ebo". 

The beA ("special electronic lawyer's mailbox") is the special mailbox for lawyers in electronic legal communication. Since October 2016, all lawyers admitted in Germany must use a beA to exchange documents and messages securely and legally bindingly with courts, authorities, and other lawyers involved in proceedings. It is also part of the EGVP infrastructure and offers a double-encrypted, lawyer-specific communication platform.

In EGVP, a SAFE-ID is the unique identifier (address) of a mailbox in the SAFE directory service, through which EGVP messages are addressed and delivered. 

Every participant (e.g., court, authority, lawyer, or notary) automatically receives such a SAFE-ID when creating an EGVP mailbox via the Governikus Communicator, under which they can be reached in the directory service. 

This ID typically looks something like this: safe-sp1-1400589659747-015539967 and is unique throughout Germany. 

The SAFE-ID is also required, for example, to activate a special electronic authority mailbox (beBPo) – without this ID, one cannot submit an application to the beBPo verification office.

Where do I find my SAFE-ID?

• Directly in beA / beN / beBPo / eBO

  Log into the mailbox and go to Settings → Overview.

  Your own SAFE-ID is explicitly shown on the overview page.

Where do I find a contact's SAFE-ID?

• EGVP/SAFE Directory Service (Address Book)
  Open the address book in your EGVP mail client.

• Search for the desired participant, select the record, and click on Info/Details – the SAFE-ID will be displayed there under "User ID" or "SAFE-ID". 

  
  

  
  

Where do I find a lawyer's SAFE-ID?

• Nationwide Official Directory of Lawyers
  1. Open & search by last name + first name.
  2. Select record → Info.
  3. The SAFE-ID is displayed in the lower section.
     If no SAFE-ID is visible, contact your regional bar association (RAK).
• Directly in the beA mailbox
  Log in, go to Settings; the SAFE-ID appears in the overview.

Data Correction
If an entry in the directory of lawyers is incorrect, only your responsible bar association can initiate changes.

You can adjust the two-factor authentication method via the settings under the User 2FA item in the online portal. 

Below you can see how to navigate there. 

Here you can set a method as primary, delete it if obsolete, or retrieve your backup tokens for login if you do not have the already registered device (e.g., smartphone) for authentication at hand. 

You have a maximum of 10 backup tokens that can be retrieved to use as a TAN for login.

We do not support account sharing for the ERV Portal.

The more users use an account, the less secure the account becomes and there are few applications that allow this.

Our permissions concept is designed to make user management easier for you, so that, for example, also individual users can have their rights to SAFE-IDs completely revoked without much effort.

Due to two-factor authentication (2FA) and other security measures, each access is personalized and not intended for shared use. 

If you want to use the ERV Portal with multiple users, a separate access must be requested for each individual.  

Delivery Attempts

The gateway attempts to deliver to your functional mailbox (Safe-ID) up to five times at 15-minute intervals. If delivery fails, escalation begins.

Escalation Levels

• Forwarding to the postmaster address configured in the gateway
• Forwarding to the SysAdmin if the postmaster uses the same mail server
• Storage in the Failed-Messages folder
  Path: C:\Program Files\Mentana\Gateway\data\Failed-Messages
  The original message is stored there as an .eml file and can be forwarded with any email client.

On-site Checks

• Check the connection between the gateway and the mail server
• Ask the postmaster / SysAdmin if a forwarded message has been received
• Trace the sending period in the gateway log

Delivery Rule

The gateway only marks a message as delivered once it has been successfully processed – this includes being stored in the Failed-Messages folder.

Redelivery

Use the gateway's archiving function to resend messages from Failed-Messages to the mail server.

Support

If the message is still missing, please send us:

• the EGVP Message-ID of the undelivered message
• the EGVP Message-ID of a sender from the sent log

With this information, we can check if and when the delivery was made.

Cause

Error 9999 indicates a temporary disruption in the sending process. A required resource could not be reached during transmission.

Possible Triggers

• The judiciary's SAFE system was temporarily unavailable.
• The receiving system of the target mailbox was not available.

New Mechanism in the Current Gateway Version

Our latest version includes an automatic feature for send retries to independently handle short-term interruptions.

Recommended Procedure

• If error 9999 occurs: please wait.
• Resend the message after some time.
• If the error persists, check the availability of the SAFE system or the recipient.

Cause
Error 150067 indicates that the attached xJustiz file could not be read. Often, an externally created xJustiz file is faulty or non-compliant.

Solution
Check the file with the official XML checker from the judiciary and adjust it if necessary.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Download and unzip Schemas 3.4.1.
2. Copy the XML-Checker JAR from this page into the same folder with the XSD files and start it.
3. Place the xJustiz file to be checked into this folder.
4. In the XML-Checker, select the file and click parse.

If errors are reported, correct the xJustiz file and then send the message again.

Cause
Since Outlook 2013, the Redmond email client disables add-ins that it considers too slow or otherwise problematic. In principle, this feature is welcome, but it also creates problems.

The add-in checks emails in the background. If the connection to the mail server is slow, this process takes longer, and Outlook classifies the add-in as "too slow."

To prevent Outlook from disabling the Mentana Add-In, a corresponding configuration can be set in the Registry.

Background
Outlook automatically disables add-ins if they exceed the time limit defined by Microsoft. This setting generally protects performance but can cause unwanted interruptions in special cases.

Solution
In the Registry, Outlook can be configured to keep a specific add-in permanently active.

1. An example as a *.reg file. With the value "1", the add-in will never be disabled.:
2. Check with your IT if Registry changes are allowed.
3. For more detailed instructions, follow the Microsoft guide Support for keeping add-ins enabled.
4. Set the keys LoadBehavior and DontMonitor for the Mentana add-in accordingly.
5. Restart Outlook and test the functionality.

Further Assistance
If you have questions about the Mentana Outlook Add-In or other products from FP Digital, please feel free to contact our support.

Background

Sending often fails if the file attachment has a non-permissible name. 

Previous program versions sometimes accepted different file names, but the current program versions no longer do.

Permissible File Names – Checklist

• Only letters and numbers (umlauts allowed)
• No special characters
• Use only - (hyphen) or _ (underscore) as separators
  – no em dashes — or en dashes
• Maximum length: 90 characters
• Only one period . before the file extension; no other periods

Solution

1. Rename the file accordingly and try sending again.
2. If sending still does not work: send the desired file name as plain text (not a screenshot) to our support so we can check it for you.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Start Outlook and select the Mentana Add-in.
2. Open Support Tools and click Enable Logging.
3. Restart Outlook.
4. Perform all actions step-by-step to reproduce the error.
5. Retrieve the log file (AddinLog) from the path specified in Support Tools and send it to our support.
6. Afterward, disable Logging again.

Tip

The exact location of the log file is displayed in the Support Tools.

Default File Extensions
The add-in only accepts file types that are permitted for electronic legal communication according to ERVV § 2. Non-compliant formats cannot be processed by court systems and will lead to the rejection of the EGVP message.

Note
Clarify with your IT whether adding other file types is compatible with court requirements.

Regulatory Basis
Regulated in the Ordinance on the Technical Framework for Electronic Legal Communication (ERVV) § 2 – Requirements for electronic documents.

Enable Additional File Extensions

1. Open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mentana\Mentana Outlook Add-In.
3. Edit the entry EGVP_erlaubte_Dateitypen and add the desired extensions (separated by semicolons).
4. Restart Outlook and perform a test send.

Prerequisite
Mentana Gateway version 1.8.xxx or higher.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Create a new certificate
   • In your Certificate Authority (CA), generate a new SSL certificate with a password.
   • Recommended container formats: .pfx or .p12 (PKCS #12).
2. Start Gateway Configuration
   On the Mentana Gateway, open the Gateway Configuration application.
3. Upload Keystore
   • Select the Web Console (optional) tab.
   • Upload new keystore → select the new certificate.
   • Supported formats are .p12files or Java Keystores.
    
   
   
   ⚠ Attention: If you only have a .pfx file (Personal Information Exchange), it must be renamed to a.p12 file; the content remains unchanged. Otherwise, it will not be accepted.
    
    
4. Enter password & test
   • Fill in the Keystore Password field.
   • Click Test – the system checks if the certificate can be opened with the password and provides feedback.
5. Save configuration
   • Select Save.
   • Confirm the message; a prompt will appear to restart the affected services.
6. Restart service
   Stop and restart the Mentana Gateway Web Console service.
7. Functionality test
   1. Access the web console using the hostname specified in the certificate – no certificate warnings should appear.
   2. Perform a test send.

Important
If certificates in the new SSL certificate's chain change, they must also be distributed to all client computers and imported into their certificate stores.

It can happen that a user has been invited but has not received the appropriate access rights. In this case, the issue is not a lack of registration, but missing permissions in the ERV portal.

Example: An administrator (e.g., a colleague with admin rights) has sent several invitations – one with full rights to themselves and one without rights to another employee. For this second user to be able to use the portal, the appropriate permissions must be granted manually.

How admins can grant permissions in the ERV portal:

• Settings
• User Rights
• Select the row of the affected user
• Mailbox Access → Edit
• In the list of SafeIDs, activate the desired access permission via the checkbox
• Click on "Close" to save

Afterward, the user in question should be able to access the ERV mailbox as desired.

In the Mentana Outlook Add-In, you can find the manual as follows:

In Outlook , click on the 'Mentana Add-In':

Click on 'Info', and then in the pop-up window, click on 'Manual':

The Manual will open: 

In the Mentana Gateway, you can find the manual as follows: 

- In progress

In the Portal, you can find the manual as follows:

- In progress

The messages are encrypted from the moment they are sent, and the files on the Safe system are protected by the EGVP security concept. 

Access permissions are defined based on the role concept so that data, after being stored, cannot be read, copied, modified, or deleted without authorization. 

The assigned access permissions are regularly reviewed and adjusted. 

Furthermore, access protection is enhanced by the use of a firewall. 

All security and data protection-relevant accesses are logged.

The role concept defines various administrator roles (e.g., Sys-Admin, Log-Admin, Malware-Admin, etc.). The administrators have corresponding permissions according to their role.