Afurð, the payment system for agriculture, has connected to a digital mailbox in the central service portal of the Icelandic authorities. With this change, the Ministry of Industries and Innovation now communicates in writing with farmers through a digital mailbox, which allows the Ministry to send customers letters that would otherwise have to be sent by registered mail. The Ministry of Industries and Innovation is the first ministry to introduce this solution, that is, the digital mailbox, in communication with the public.

The Ministry is in constant communication with farmers in connection with the implementation of agricultural contracts and has used the website and computer system www.afurd.is, the payment system for agriculture, for this purpose. A product obtains data from agricultural producers, receives electronic applications, publishes processing of applications, calculates and makes all support payments in agriculture and publishes information in relation to agricultural contracts and agricultural statistics. The Agricultural dashboard retrieves information from Product. The website Product was connected to the digital mailbox of the Icelandic government last month and ANR has therefore now sent about 6,500 electronic letters to the mailbox in connection with the implementation of agricultural supply contracts. All individuals with Icelandic personal identification numbers and legal entities have their digital mailbox and have access to documents from public institutions and municipalities through Iceland.is. It publishes and stores specific personal information and messages from the Government to individuals and companies.

With these changes, the Ministry of Industries and Innovation has, as regards the implementation of agricultural contracts, fulfilled the provisions of Act No. 105/2021, the aim of which is to promote efficient public services, increase transparency in handling cases and administrative efficiency and ensure a secure way to communicate data to individuals and legal entities. All government agencies are currently working on connecting to the mailbox and have until 2025 to complete its adoption. This will result in great advantages for individuals and companies, who then have all data and communications with the state accessible in one place. The project was carried out by software companies Stefna and Advania for the Ministry of Industries and Innovation and Digital Iceland.

Picture: Golli.