Four out of five companies in Europe's largest economy continue to use fax machines. But Germany's parliament has until the end of June to stop relying on the antiquated communication technology.
🤖 I’m a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:
Click here to see the summary
Much as Germany’s reputation for efficiency is regularly undermined by slow internet connections and a reliance on paper and rubber stamps, fax machines are at odds with a world embracing artificial intelligence.
But progress is on the horizon in the Bundestag — the lower house of parliament — where lawmakers have been instructed by the parliamentary budget committee to ditch their trusty fax machines by the end of June, and rely on email instead for official communication.
As a member of Germany’s governing coalition, Herbst has been working on legislation to make email a legally binding form of communication.
Herbst says the fax machine’s long-exalted legal position in Germany boils down to widespread distrust of anything that isn’t written in pen and ink on actual paper.
In March, the International Monetary Fund warned that if Germany wants to boost economic growth, it must reduce red tape and finally get round to digitizing properly.
He shows off his vast collection of old typewriters, desk phones, floppy disks and fax machines which now adorn the shelves of his own office.
🤖 I’m a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:
Click here to see the summary
Much as Germany’s reputation for efficiency is regularly undermined by slow internet connections and a reliance on paper and rubber stamps, fax machines are at odds with a world embracing artificial intelligence.
But progress is on the horizon in the Bundestag — the lower house of parliament — where lawmakers have been instructed by the parliamentary budget committee to ditch their trusty fax machines by the end of June, and rely on email instead for official communication.
As a member of Germany’s governing coalition, Herbst has been working on legislation to make email a legally binding form of communication.
Herbst says the fax machine’s long-exalted legal position in Germany boils down to widespread distrust of anything that isn’t written in pen and ink on actual paper.
In March, the International Monetary Fund warned that if Germany wants to boost economic growth, it must reduce red tape and finally get round to digitizing properly.
He shows off his vast collection of old typewriters, desk phones, floppy disks and fax machines which now adorn the shelves of his own office.
Saved 80% of original text.