The certified email service (PEC, posta elettronica certificata) is provided by Namirial S.p.A., an authority accredited by CNIPA (Centro Nazionale per l'Informatica della Pubblica Amministrazione - National Centre for Information Technology in Public Administration) and included in the public list of Certified Email Providers available on the AgID (Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale - Agency for Digital Italy) website.

Main benefits of certified electronic mail

• Ensures the integrity of the message and certifies successful delivery by giving legal value to the message delivery process in accordance with the Italian normative DPR 11/2/2005, n. 68 and DPCM 2/11/2005 available at the CNIPA website.
• Allows emails to be sent/received with a high level of security and service guarantee
• The use of certified mail provides (within the time limits set by the law) the legal equivalent of traditional registered mail, fax or other traditional means, in many cases, for example, for:
  • transmission of documents to Public Administrations;
  • sending orders, contracts, invoices;
  • convocation of Councils, Assemblies;
  • forwarding of circulars and directives;
  • management of tenders;
  • management of official communications within "networked" organisations (franchising, agents, etc.)
  • integration of certified transmissions into other products such as ERP, payroll, protocol, document managers, workflow.

The subjects

Certified electronic mail involves three distinct subjects with specific roles:

• sender: is the user who uses the certified email service to send the message;
• recipient: is the user who receives the certified email message sent by the sender and therefore uses the certified email service to receive the message;
• service provider: is the entity, public or private, that provides the certified email service and certifies delivery and reception of a PEC message. The service provider must be listed in the official AgID (Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale) register, called the Elenco dei gestori PEC (List of PEC Providers).
  Certified email service providers must use methods to guarantee that the message is transmitted from the sender to the recipient intact in all its parts.

Receipts

In order to certify the transmission of electronic documents (sending and receiving) the sender must either receive a receipt from the PEC provider, which constitutes legal proof that the message and any attached documents have been sent, or receive a delivery (or non-delivery) receipt from the recipient provider with a precise time stamp when the message reaches the recipient's certified account.

Below is a description of the different types of receipt provided by the certified electronic mail system; all receipts issued by certified email providers are signed by them with an electronic signature.

1. Acceptance receipt: it confirms that your message has been accepted by the system and forwarded to the recipient. The acceptance receipt is signed with the key of the e-mail provider
2. Acceptance receipt (for message acceptance): the recipient's provider sends a receipt to the sender's provider confirming that the message has been accepted. If communication between the two operators fails, then the sender will be notified (Interoperability between providers).
3. Delivery (or non-delivery) receipt: the recipient's PEC provider sends the delivery receipt to the sender, regardless of whether the latter has read it. The receipt indicates that the message has actually arrived at the recipient's address and certifies the date and time of the event. The acceptance receipt is signed with the key of the recipient's email provider. A copy of the message is attached to the to the delivery notification.
4. Delivery error receipt  and transport anomaly message: it is issued and send to the sender when the message cannot be delivered.

When an incorrect or non-certified email message is delivered to a certified email user, the message is included in a transport anomaly message to highlight the anomaly to the recipient. The transport anomaly message is signed with the key of the recipient's certified email provider.

The certified email service offers all its functionalities only if both the sender and the recipient have a certified email account with a PEC provider listed in the index of certified email providers (not necessarily the same one).