PEC (Italian certified email): what it is, how to get it and how to use it

PEC (posta elettronica certificata, Italian certified email) is an email that proves a message was sent and delivered, with an exact date and time. If you send it from a PEC mailbox to another PEC mailbox, it has the same legal value as a registered letter with return receipt. To get one, you go to one of the providers qualified by AgID (Italy's digital agency), listed on the official website: you apply online or at their sales points, paying the required fee.

For a citizen it's optional. It can be useful for writing to public offices, companies or professionals when you need proof of sending and delivery.

What it's for, in practice

With PEC, instead of a paper registered letter, you can send from your computer or phone a communication that counts as proof. For example to a public office, a company you're in a dispute with, a condominium administrator or a professional.

What makes it different from regular email, according to AgID:

• Your provider sends you a receipt of sending.
• The recipient's provider sends you a receipt of delivery (or of failed delivery), which contains the message and the attachments.
• All receipts carry an exact time stamp.
• A message that arrives in the recipient's PEC mailbox is considered delivered even if they don't open it.

That last point applies to you too: if you have a PEC, what arrives counts as received. Check it often.

Who must have one

AgID lists as required:

• public administrations and public service operators;
• professionals;
• companies.

For citizens it's a free choice. If you have a partita IVA (VAT number) or a business, check your obligations with your accountant.

Before you start

• Have at hand a valid identity document and your codice fiscale (Italian tax code): the provider will ask for your personal details.
• Choose the password carefully and write it down on paper: PEC has legal value, and anyone who gets into your mailbox can write in your name.
• No links received by email. Reach the providers' websites from AgID's official list, not from ads or messages.

How to activate a PEC mailbox

1. Open the list of PEC providers on AgID's website (in Italian). We don't recommend any particular one here: they are all qualified and supervised by AgID.
2. Choose a provider and go to its website, or to one of its sales points.
3. Submit your application, online or at the counter, with the required personal details.
4. Pay the provider's fee.
5. Follow the provider's instructions until the mailbox is activated.

Once it's active, AgID points out that PEC is used like regular email: the difference is that sending and receiving are certified. How to access it, from the provider's website or from an email program, is explained in the provider's own instructions.

How to use it every day

• To send: write the message like an email, add the attachments and send. Shortly after, the receipts arrive in your mailbox.
• Keep the receipts. They are your proof: the delivery receipt also contains the message and the attachments. Don't delete them, and save a copy on your computer. If you have many important messages, apply the 3-2-1 backup rule.
• Check the mailbox often, even if you rarely use it: a message that arrives counts as received.
• Write from PEC to PEC when you need the value of a registered letter. Public administrations are required to have a PEC mailbox: look for the official address on the office's website.
• Attachments as PDF, ideally small: if a file is too big, first compress the PDF. If you need to sign it, there's a guide on signing a PDF.

The digital domicile

AgID explains that a citizen can voluntarily register their PEC mailbox in INAD, the national index of digital domiciles. This makes it their general domicilio digitale (digital domicile), where they can receive digital communications from anyone. It's an important choice: from then on, what arrives in your PEC counts as delivered, so only do it if you check the mailbox regularly. The service is on the website domiciliodigitale.gov.it (in Italian).

If it still doesn't work

• You don't get the delivery receipt. The delivery receipt is generated by the recipient's PEC provider: if you wrote to a regular email address, it may not arrive. Check that you used the correct PEC address.
• You get a failed delivery receipt. The message didn't arrive: double-check the PEC address on the official website of the office or person you're writing to, and try again.
• You forgot your password or the mailbox has expired. Only your provider handles this: use the support listed on its website.
• You get a «PEC» asking you to pay or click a link. Scammers can use PEC too. Look carefully at the sender and the links, and read how to recognize a scam message.
• If you want to set up PEC on your phone or in your computer's email program and can't manage it, a technician can set it up with you, starting from your provider's official instructions.