On February 22, 2015, the Italian court of Termini Imerese issued a notable order addressing the issue of electronic evidence authentication.
The topic has raised some concerns in the past as the applicable law on the governmental use of digital resources – Codice dell’Amministrazione Digitale (d.lgs 7 marzo 2005 n. 82) – does not clarify whether the identity of the sender of an email can be considered as authenticated in a judiciary proceeding.
According to the order issued, documents sent by e-mail shall be considered as executed with an “electronic signature”. This type of execution – according to section 21 d.lgs. 82/2005 – gives the judge the right to evaluate its evidentiary power also “considering the quality of the document, its integrity, and the impossibility to modify it”. The password necessary to access the account associated with other electronic data serves as a method of authentication of the account owner. However, the owner’s identity could be proved only if the document was executed with an advanced electronic signature, which is based on qualified certificates providing for higher level of security (see Directive 1999/93/EC for the relevant definition).
The order issued on Feb. 22, 2015, by the Court in Termini Imerese is available (in Italian) at http://dirittocivilecontemporaneo.com…
For more information on this topic, you can also read: Francesco Minazzi , Il valore probatorio dell’email come documento informatico, Commento a Tribunale Termini Imerese, Ordinanza 22 febbraio 2015, at http://www.filodiritto.com…
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