Electronic signature in Italy after ten years of "running in"

Abstract

- Achievements in Italy in the field of electronic documents Electronic documents were introduced by a very slim paragraph that, after having been devised in 1996, was issued in year 1997 as art. 15(2) of Law 59. After ten years the whole spectrum of possible usage of the electronic document has now become real in Italy: from the, now nearly trivial, qualified electronic signature, to the long term electronic storage of any document, to the issuance and storage of signed electronic invoices, to a more and more widespread usage in the public health domain, to the Registered E-Mail that, by mimicking the registered ordinary mail, provides the users with the well known receipts, and more. Exciting new usages are now moving to the front stage: electronic medical reports, electronic criminal court sentences, etc. The previously hinted to slim paragraph of Law 59/97 was indeed, paraphrasing astronaut Neil Armstrong's most famous statement: "A small effort for a legislator, a giant leap for Italy".