La Posta Elettronica Certificata - Italian Certified Electronic Mail

Since 1997, the Italian laws have recognized electronic delivery systems as legally usable. In 2005, after two years of technical tests, the characteristics of an official electronic delivery service, named certified electronic mail (in Italian "Posta Elettronica Certificata") were defined, giving the system legal standing. The design of the entire system was carried out by the National Center for Informatics in the Public Administration of Italy (DigitPA), followed by efforts for the implementation and testing of the service. The DigitPA has given the Italian National Research Council (CNR), and in particular the Institute of Information Science and Technologies at the CNR (ISTI), the task of running tests on providers of the service to guarantee the correct implementation and interoperability. This document describes the certified email system adopted in Italy. It represents the system as it is at the moment of writing, following the technical regulations that were written based upon the Italian Law DPR. November 2, 2005. This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.