Italian Standard Certified Electronic Mail: "Posta Elettronica Certificata (PEC)"

The world-wide spread of the Internet has revolutionized the way services are provided, improving efficiency, reliability and transparency and simplifying process management in organizations as well as in various public sectors. This has become the basis for eGovernment services, dedicated to simplifying interactions with local and central Government and citizens. In this context, email-based services need to apply security mechanisms to guarantee trustiness of the communication, user privacy and message confidentiality. Since 2005 Italy has acknowledged the legal validity of certified electronic mail systems. This paper describes the solution adopted by the Italian Government, guaranteeing easy use to any citizen while maintaining enough security to deliver secure and interoperable email communication services. First, the operative scenario is introduced, showing motivation for introduction and regulation of electronic certified email. Next, the technical rules that form the basis of the PEC system and guarantee its interoperability are discussed in detail. Last, the procedure performed according to IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) directives for publishing the Italian Standard Certified Electronic Mail: "Posta Elettronica Certificata (PEC)" as an Informational Draft as well as future steps are discussed. The PEC scenario, although developed in the Italian context, has characteristics worth sharing with the international scientific community, based on technology (email and encryption) used worldwide.