The implementing decrees

It-Wallet: free and paid digital services, here's what changes

Authentication only with Cie. Implementation and management of the public solution entrusted to Poligrafico and PagoPa. But private supplier solutions may also be created

by Carmine Fotina

28 June 2025

Portafoglio digitale, documenti digitali, patente carta d'identità tessera sanitaria, It Wallet. (Imagoeconomica)

4' min read

Key points

Governance
The public and private solution
Free and paid services

4' min read

Two implementing decrees and a package of guidelines to get Italy's It-Wallet off to a flying start: the drafts of the measures are ready and now before the various administrations, which have to give the green light.

This is the so-called digital wallet, the system that will allow access to public and in the future also private services by facilitating the presentation and verification of one's digital identity. When fully implemented, the electronic identity card, considered more secure than Spid with reference to the standards of the European eIDAS regulation, will be the only digital identity for access.

There will be an experimental phase during which - in addition to the driver's licence, health card and European disability card, for which a digital version is already available on smartphones in a so-called pre-test phase - users who request them will be given priority to four other electronic certificates: the Isee; the qualification obtained and school enrolment; graduation and enrolment in a higher education institution; residence and voter registration.

Addio alla carta d’identità cartacea: ecco da quando e perché

Governance

With Decree 19/2024, of which the two Prime Ministerial Decrees described in this article represent the implementation, the government entrusted the implementation of the It-Wallet System to two public companies, the Poligrafico dello Stato and PagoPa (the latter still in the process of coming under the joint control of the same Poligrafico and Poste Italiane). Among the various tasks assigned, the Poligrafico will have to issue electronic data certificates following authentication, which users will only be able to do through the high assurance level of the electronic identity card.

The public and private solution

To recapitulate, through the IT-Wallet natural and legal persons will be able to directly present companies and public administrations with the information required to access services in the form of electronic certificates. Like a physical wallet, the IT-Wallet will contain documents in digital format to be shown when needed. With the project carried out by the Department for Digital Transformation (Ditd) of Palazzo Chigi, headed by Alessio Butti, Undersecretary for Technological Innovation, Italy aims to be ready, even ahead of schedule, for the entry into force of the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet). While Europe makes no explicit distinction, Italy has decided to provide for a public It-Wallet (in other words, the services we use as citizens) that has the IO app as its telematic access channel, and private It-Wallet solutions, in practice services that we access as 'consumers' and that can be provided by various providers. In the latter case, examples can be manifold: from banks to insurance companies, from car rental companies to energy and telephone providers (but also aggregators of different services and offers).

In reality, the two decrees - prepared by the Ditd and now under the agreement of the Ministry of the Economy and the Ministry of the Public Administration - focus mainly on the public solution, which seems to play a central role in the project. It is specified that it will be made available to citizens with a gradual release of functionalities from the date of publication of the decree.

In the first phase, public data subjects will have the possibility of making the information available, but the compulsoriness will only be decided later. There will, however, be a Register, to which private entities will also be able to enrol. The Registry will be managed by the Poligrafico, in some way therefore in the dual role of those who coordinate the public Wallet and those who determine the actual availability of electronic attributes for private solution providers. The Agency for Digital Italy, on the other hand, will have the task of issuing a regulation with the procedures for registration and then verifying the possession and maintenance of the requirements of those registered.

In order to make their way, private providers will have to cling above all to the 'experimentation spaces', which the Dpcm still defines in a general and abstract way. Reference is made to the most commonly used technological standards at EU level, but the real margins of manoeuvre for private providers compared to the public solution are still not specified.

Free and paid services

The article on 'Principles and economic sustainability of the It-Wallet system' is particularly relevant. It makes it clear that the goal is a balance between revenues and operating costs and that the principle of free of charge for citizens applies to 'essential services' while 'additional services' may be chargeable, also to reduce the system's dependence on public funding.

The definition of tariffs - for both public and private It-Wallets - will have to provide, inter alia, differentiated criteria according to the type of actors (public bodies, SMEs, large enterprises) and the complexity of the services provided, will have to include 'premium' services such as qualified electronic signatures for professional purposes, and also provide for pay-per-use schemes, subscriptions or mixed 'freemium' models. In turn, registered entities, which will provide pay-per-use services, will have to pay a contribution towards the operating and maintenance costs of the system.

As for the Digital Agency, it will have to monitor the economic sustainability of this mechanism, propose adjustments to tariffs and remuneration policies, and ensure that remuneration policies do not create economic barriers for citizens and SMEs.

Carmine FotinaVicecaposervizio
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Luogo: Roma
Lingue parlate: inglese, spagnolo
Argomenti: Politica industriale, commercio estero, innovazione digitale, tlc
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