WHEN IS A PARCEL DELIVERED IF IT FAILS TO BE DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO THE ADDRESSEE?

Legal Acts Towards an Absent Person

In general, this issue is regulated by Act No. 89/2012 Coll., the Civil Code (hereinafter the "CC"), specifically in Sections 570-573. According to Section 570 of the CC, a legal act made towards an absent person takes effect from the moment the declaration of will reaches them; however, if that person intentionally frustrates the delivery, it is deemed to have been duly delivered.

An act towards an absent person generally occurs when the persons are not communicating with each other directly. However, this does not mean physical immediacy; it can also involve the use of, for example, telephone communication or other online communication tools such as Skype.

Delivery via Postal Services

Let's take a look at how this applies to the delivery of consignments. The aforementioned presumption of delivery time is regulated in Section 573 of the CC, which presumes that a consignment sent using a postal service provider was delivered on the third working day after dispatch, but if it was sent to an address in another country, then on the fifteenth working day after dispatch.

To begin with, it is important to state that the presumption of delivery time applies only to consignments for which delivery has been proven. This means that the presumption of delivery time applies to a consignment only when it reaches the addressee's sphere of control, i.e., when the addressee has the opportunity to become acquainted with it.

Postal services are regulated by Act No. 29/2000 Coll., the Postal Services Act; however, the list of postal service providers is available on the website of the Czech Telecommunication Office.

A working day is understood to be any calendar day except for Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays. It is also necessary to take into account that this is a rebuttable presumption, meaning it can be rebutted either by proving a different time of delivery, or at least by proving that delivery did not, or could not, occur at the time established by the presumption (this could be, for example, local unrest at the place of delivery preventing the consignment from being delivered).

How does this work in practice?

To illustrate the theoretical principles mentioned above, let's use the example of a pre-action letter. In accordance with established case law (Supreme Court of the Czech Republic, file no. 26 Cdo 2988/2011, of 13 November 2012), a pre-action letter is to be considered delivered at the moment the addressee had an objective opportunity to become acquainted with it, i.e., the moment the consignment was deposited with the postal service provider, of which the addressee was notified by the postal service provider.

Therefore, if the consignment was deposited with the postal service provider on, for example, 22 August 2023 because the addressee could not be reached, the pre-action letter was also delivered on that day, in accordance with Section 570(1) of the CC.

If a consignment (in our example, the pre-action letter) was demonstrably delivered to the addressee and was sent via a postal service provider on, for example, 21 August 2023 (but it was not possible to prove the exact day of its delivery to the addressee, nor, for example, that it was deposited with the postal service provider), then based on the presumption of delivery time, the pre-action letter would have been delivered to the addressee on 24 August 2023.

If you have any questions regarding this or a related issue, do not hesitate to contact our Prague-based legal team. We will be happy to learn more about your case and provide you with the appropriate legal assistance.

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