The Codice dell’Amministrazione Digitale (CAD) defines an electronic document as “the electronic representation of acts, facts, or legally relevant data”.
Digital preservation allows, through dedicated systems, to keep documents over time while ensuring the maintenance of characteristics such as authenticity, integrity, intelligibility, reliability, legibility, and retrievability.
Therefore, the electronic documents produced will have identical content, form, and validity to their analog counterparts.
Documents such as accounting books and invoices must be preserved for 10 years from the date of the last entry, while the single labor book must be kept for 5 years, according to legal requirements.
The Codice dell’Amministrazione Digitale (CAD) defines an electronic document as “the electronic representation of acts, facts, or legally relevant data”.
Digital preservation allows, through dedicated systems, to keep documents over time while ensuring the maintenance of characteristics such as authenticity, integrity, intelligibility, reliability, legibility, and retrievability.
Therefore, the electronic documents produced will have identical content, form, and validity to their analog counterparts.
Documents such as accounting books and invoices must be preserved for 10 years from the date of the last entry, while the single labor book must be kept for 5 years, according to legal requirements.
As per the AgID guidelines, starting from January 1, 2022, there is an obligation to draft the Manuale di Conservazione (McD), which describes all processes applied to the creation of the informational document and its preservation.
From that date, there is also an obligation to identify, within one’s organization, the role of the Responsabile della Conservazione (RdC), who is responsible for verifying and authenticating all preservation processes.
A digital document has legal value only if it has been created, drafted, and managed according to specific criteria outlined and verified in compliance with the Guidelines, in the MdC by the RdC, incorporating valid digital signatures and timestamps.
It is identified as a formally appointed manager or official who carries out the necessary verification and control activities in compliance with the applicable regulations for the entrusted services.
The Responsabile della Conservazione (RdC) can also be an external individual appointed by specific delegations who will be responsible for the preservation processes.
The RdC must be identified in the appropriate section of the Conservation Manual (MdC), where all participating roles will be listed, such as the Responsabile del Servizio della Conservazione (RdSdC), document producers, and authorized users.
This is the person identified within the Conservatore as the RdSdC. The Conservatore is an AgID-qualified entity capable of carrying out the compliant preservation activities for electronic documents.
The Conservatore is identified when selecting the preservation system, through the signing of dedicated service agreements.
The RdC is responsible for drafting the Manuale di Conservazione (MdC), which has been legally required since January 1, 2022.
The MdC provides detailed instructions for managing and verifying the functioning of the document preservation system. This document must also be digitally signed and timestamped to preserve its integrity over time.
In general, to comply with AgID guidelines on the digital preservation of documents, it must mandatorily contain the following information and specifications:
The procedures include quality controls, protection against alterations or unauthorized access, and long-term preservation with guaranteed access and readability over time.
Regulations such as the CAD and the AgID guidelines have been updated to respond to technological developments and ensure the legal validity of preserved documents. Additionally, there has been a shift to more flexible models, such as cloud preservation, while maintaining strict standards of compliance and accessibility.
The preserved document objects include digital documents such as contracts, electronic invoices, certified emails (PEC), registers, and administrative acts. They are archived in standard formats (e.g., PDF/A, XML) to ensure their integrity, authenticity, and readability over time. In addition to the content, associated metadata (e.g., date, author, digital signature) are also preserved, which are essential for the proper management and retrieval of information.
The deposit package contains documents and metadata intended for the conservation system, ensuring their integrity and authenticity. It includes files, digital signatures, and timestamps, ensuring the proper archiving and indexing of the documents.
The main roles in digital preservation are the preservation officer, who ensures regulatory compliance; the document producer, who generates and transfers the documents; and the preservation system manager, who handles the technical infrastructure. They collaborate to ensure the authenticity, integrity, and accessibility of documents over time.
The archiving package is the collection of documents, metadata, and management information, organized for long-term preservation. It is created by the conservation system to ensure the integrity, authenticity, and accessibility of data over time. It also includes management information, such as monitoring and verifying the archived documents.
The distribution package is used to provide access to stored documents upon request. It contains the original files, metadata, and the necessary information to ensure their authenticity and integrity, ensuring that users can view or retrieve the documents in a compliant manner. It is prepared by the conservation system for consultation or extraction.
The deposit report is a document that certifies the transfer of documentary objects to the conservation system, ensuring correct receipt and compliance. The management of waste involves the selection and elimination of documents that are no longer necessary or have exceeded the required retention periods, ensuring that they are securely and traceably disposed of, in accordance with defined regulations and procedures.
The Disaster Recovery measures include plans and procedures to ensure data restoration and operational continuity in the event of catastrophic events, such as hardware failures or cyberattacks. Privacy measures encompass access policies, data encryption, and protection of personal information, in compliance with regulations such as GDPR. Both measures are essential to protect the integrity of documents and ensure the confidentiality of stored information.
How can LDP support you?
Navigating through the dense regulations is not easy, but our Team will be able to guide you every step of the way!
The Legale Rappresentante is the primary person responsible to the authorities for ensuring that the preservation process is correctly applied, in compliance with the provided guidelines.
LDP, appointed as the Delegato del Responsabile della Conservazione, will be responsible for regularly verifying the procedures applied in preservation, updating the mandatory Manuale di Conservazione, and ensuring that the legal requirements regarding Conservazione Digitale are met.
Verification of the completion of the legal preservation of documents
Periodic audits to establish the verification of compliance with current regulations
Mapping of preservation processes
Identification of the roles involved in the preservation process
Drafting and updating of the Conservation Manual
Verification of the completion of the legal preservation of documents
Periodic audits to establish the verification of compliance with current regulations
Mapping of preservation processes
Identification of the roles involved in the preservation process
Drafting and updating of the Conservation Manual
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