The Certified Electronic Mail service is provided by Aruba PEC S.p.A., an entity accredited with CNIPA (Italy's former National Centre for Information Technology in Public Administration) and listed in the public register of Certified Electronic Mail providers available on the website of AgID (Agency for Digital Italy).
Main benefits of Certified Electronic Mail
- It ensures the integrity of the message and certifies its delivery, giving the delivery process full legal value under the regulatory framework of Italian law DPR 11/2/2005, no. 68 and DPCM 2/11/2005, available on the CNIPA website
- It allows sending/receiving email with a high level of security and service guarantee
- The use of certified email replaces (within the terms provided by law) registered mail, fax, or other traditional tools, in many cases such as:
- transmission of documents to Public Administrations;
- sending orders, contracts, invoices;
- convening Boards, Assemblies, Committees;
- forwarding circulars and directives;
- managing tender procedures;
- managing official communications within "networked" organizations (franchising, agents, etc.);
- integrating certified transmissions into other products such as ERP, payroll, protocol, document management systems, workflow.
The parties involved
Certified Electronic Mail involves three distinct parties with specific roles:
- sender: the user who uses the Certified Electronic Mail service to send the message;
- recipient: the user who receives the Certified Electronic Mail message sent by the sender, and who therefore uses the Certified Electronic Mail service to receive the message;
- service provider: the public or private entity that provides the Certified Electronic Mail service and certifies the sending and receiving of a PEC message. The service provider must be listed in AgID's (Agency for Digital Italy) official register, called the List of PEC providers. Certified Electronic Mail providers must guarantee the use of methods to verify that the message is carried from sender to recipient intact in all its parts.
Receipts
Certifying a transmission of electronic documents (sending and receiving) means the sender receives from their own PEC provider a receipt that constitutes legal proof that the message and any attached documentation were sent, or receives from the recipient's provider a receipt of delivery (or non-delivery) with a precise timestamp of when the message reaches the recipient's certified mailbox.
Below is a description of the different types of receipts provided by the Certified Electronic Mail system; all receipts issued by certified mail providers are signed by them with an electronic signature.
- Acceptance receipt: the PEC provider used by the sender sends the sender an acceptance receipt containing the certification data attesting that a message was sent. The acceptance receipt is signed with the email provider's key.
- Take-in-charge receipt: the recipient's provider gives the sender's provider a receipt confirming that the message has been taken in charge. If communication between the two providers fails, the sender is notified of this event (interoperability between providers).
- Delivery (or non-delivery) receipt: the recipient's PEC provider sends the sender a delivery receipt as soon as the sent message becomes available in the recipient's mailbox, regardless of whether it has actually been read by the recipient. The receipt indicates that the message has actually reached the recipient's address and certifies the date and time of the event. The acceptance receipt is signed with the recipient's email provider's key. A complete copy of the delivered message is attached to the delivery notification.
- Delivery error receipt and transport anomaly message: issued when the message cannot be delivered, in which case the recipient's provider provides the sender with a delivery error receipt.
When an incorrect message, or one that is not certified mail, is delivered to a certified mail user, the message is placed inside a transport anomaly message to flag the anomaly to the recipient. The transport anomaly message is signed with the key of the recipient's certified mail provider.
As described above, the Certified Electronic Mail service makes all its features available only when both the sender and the recipient use a PEC provider - not necessarily the same one - listed in the published register of certified mail providers.
