Regulations for Handling Email - Updated 21.11.2022

This document describes regulations for handling email in Metropolia. These rules apply to everyone who uses or has access to Metropolia's email address.

A summary of the regulations for handling email can be found below, which contains the most important points.

General

• In handling electronic documents, the University shall apply the principles of privacy of correspond-ence, protection of privacy and good administrative procedures.
• The University shall have the right to determine for what purpose the email and the network are to be used, and user rights can be restricted.
• The email system is not meant for mass distribution of files or for transmitting large files.

Definitions and Scopes of Use

In these regulations, email messages have been divided into four different categories based on the type of address they are connected to. In the regulations, both sent and received messages are defined as follows:

• Organizational email is an email connected to an organizational address of the University or a university unit (e.g. kirjaamo@metropolia.fi, valinta@ metropolia.fi).
• Official email is connected both to the personal official email address issued to an employee by the University for working purposes (e.g. vili.virta@ metropolia.fi) and to the work duties of the said employee. If a student sends email in an active role in e.g. University executive bodies or research teams, the said email shall be considered to be an official email.
• Personal email is a personal message connected to an email address issued by the University (usually the same address as the official email address or a student’s email address).
• Other email is a message connected to the user’s email address outside of the University e.g. vili.virta@personal-use.fi or vili.virta@other-organization.fi.

Official and personal email addresses are composed of the user’s name or the user’s user ID.

Use of email and handling of messages

• In order to maintain privacy protection and information management, it is forbidden to forward or automatically redirect organizational email to an email address outside of the University.
• An employee or student is not allowed to use an external address for tasks connected to University. Tasks included emails between teacher and student.
• An external email address should not be used for a student’s studies and other activities as part of the University community. The University can require that an email address issued by the University is used using services by email.
• If a user receives an email message intended for another person, the receiver must inform the original sender of the unsuccessful delivery and delete the arrived message.  The user has obligation of secrecy and non-exploitation considering both the contents of the message and its existence.
• It is not recommended to use automatic replies. If, however, an automatic reply is deemed necessary (e.g. long vacations of employees, leave of absence or termination of employment), the automated reply shall advise the original sender to contact primarily the appropriate organizational address.
• A user has the right to encrypt his or her email messages with Metropolias secure-email function, which is a tool accepted by Metropolia IT-services.
• Confidential and sensitive personal data should not be transmitted by e-mail or any other form of data transmission over a network without encryption. Metropolia's internal e-mail traffic (when you send a message from an e-mail address ending in @ metropolia.fi to another e-mail address ending in @ metropolia.fi) is already basically encrypted.

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