By 30 June 2013, sole proprietorships are also required to register their mailbox in the Business Register. Certified mail (PEC). This obligation has already been in force since 29 November 2011 for companies.
What is PEC?
The PEC is an e-mail system that creates a real "electronic" registered office of the company, accessible by anyone and which allows messages to be exchanged with maximum security and with the same legal value as a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt.
The PEC also guarantees the certainty of sending, delivery, the unmodifiability of the content and confidentiality of the message, the certain identification of the sender box.
In Italy, overall, there are currently over 5 million certified e-mail boxes and they circulate around 91 million messages every year. Only 15% of sole proprietorships active in Italy have an electronic address.
How does it work?
The transmission is considered certified mail only if both interlocutors have PEC boxes, belonging to even different authorized operators. Otherwise, the system will be able to provide only a part of the functions provided, also in relation to who, between sender and recipient, is the owner of the PEC box (for example, there may be no delivery receipt).
What are the costs?
Both the registration and the change of PEC address in the Business Register are free since they are exempt from stamp duties, duties and tariffs.
The PEC then has an annual cost that varies according to the manager. Functionally, all managers must have the same rules and are therefore equivalent. What makes the difference are the additional services: size of the mailbox, the possibility of receiving a notification via email or accessing the PEC service from a mobile device.
How to activate a PEC box?
To activate a PEC mailbox, it is necessary to contact one of the authorized Managers who meet the requirements established by the reference legislation. Certified e-mail Managers are registered in a special public list held by DigitPA and which can be consulted via the Internet at the address www.digitpa.gov.it in the Certified Electronic Mail section - List of Managers.
The PEC Enrollment Service
InfoCamere makes available on the portal www.registroimprese.it a free service, Practice Simple, to notify the Business Register of the registration or change of one's PEC address. Through this service, the owner of an individual company registered in the Companies Register will be able to register the Certified Electronic Mail (PEC) address of his company.
The use of this function is reserved to the owner of the company, who will have to provide the tax code of the declarant, which coincides with that of the sole proprietorship; the Certified E-mail address of the company, which is the object of the communication; and the digital signature of the communication.
Anyone who does not have a digital signature device can contact the Chamber of Commerce or accredited certifiers authorized by the Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale (formerly DigitPA).
