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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Conservazione Sostitutiva: 10 years of legal archive

Conservazione Sostitutiva (CS) is the Italian legal archive of dematerialised fiscal documents. Every Italian VAT-registered person must preserve invoices, ricevute, DDT and other fiscal records for 10 years, in an AgID-certified system, with digital signature and time-stamp. The rule predates the SdI: it dates back to DPCM 3 December 2013, itself grounded in the Codice dell'Amministrazione Digitale (D.Lgs. 82/2005).

  • D.Lgs. 82/2005 — Codice dell'Amministrazione Digitale (CAD), Art. 43 and 44 — establishes legal equivalence between paper and preserved electronic document.
  • DPCM 3 December 2013 — historical Prime Minister decree fixing the technical rules of conservazione sostitutiva.
  • D.Lgs. 217/2017 — major CAD amendment integrating the eIDAS EU 910/2014 ecosystem and clarifying roles.
  • AgID Linee Guida 9 September 2020 (version 1.1 May 2021) — detailed operational technical guide, normative since 1 January 2022.
  • UNI 11386:2020 — national SInCRO standard on archival package structure.
  • DM 17 June 2014 — fiscal decree on the modalities of electronic fiscal document conservation, integrated into the tax code.

Conservation process

The process follows an OAIS-normed scheme (ISO 14721:2012) adapted to the Italian CAD. Five mandatory steps:

  1. Selezione — identification of documents to preserve (issued invoices, received invoices, SdI ricevute, ddt, libri contabili).
  2. Preparazione — every document is hashed in SHA-256, electronically signed (CAdES-BES or XAdES-BES), time-stamped by a qualified eIDAS TSA.
  3. Versamento — creation of the Pacchetto di Versamento (PdV) with the Indice di Pacchetto di Archiviazione (IPdA), SInCRO XML structure.
  4. Archiviazione — the Conservatore validates the PdV, generates the Pacchetto di Archiviazione (PdA), adds its own digital signature and time-stamp (monthly closure).
  5. Esibizione — upon request (fiscal audit, litigation), the Conservatore produces the Pacchetto di Distribuzione (PdD) with verifiable integrity proof.
text conservazione-flow.txt 
┌──────────────────┐
│ Document to be   │
│   archived       │
│ (invoice, ric.)  │
└────────┬─────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌──────────────────┐
│ SHA-256 hash +   │
│ digital signature│
│ + timestamp      │
└────────┬─────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌──────────────────┐
│ Versamento pkg   │
│ (PdV) with IPdA  │
└────────┬─────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌──────────────────┐
│  Archival sys.   │
│  (Conservatore)  │
└────────┬─────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌──────────────────┐
│ Archival package │
│  + month close   │
└──────────────────┘

Manuale di Conservazione

Every entity preserving documents (titolare) must draft and publish a Manuale di Conservazione. Operational reference document, it describes the conservation system in depth. Mandatory content per AgID Linee Guida:

  • Role identification — Titolare dell'oggetto della conservazione, Responsabile della conservazione (RdC), Conservatore (internal or outsourced).
  • System description — architecture, infrastructure, storage sites (primary + secondary datacentre), redundancy.
  • Politiche di conservazione — document types preserved, durations, required metadata, modalità di esibizione.
  • Modalità di scarto — destruction procedure after the legal retention period, journaling of scarti.
  • Misure di sicurezza — confidentiality (at-rest and in-transit encryption), integrity, availability (SLA), physical protection.
  • Operational procedures — versamento, controllo, possible anomalies, version management.
  • Piano di emergenza — business continuity, RPO/RTO, exit of the conservation operator (reversibility).

Roles: Titolare, Responsabile, Conservatore

RoleDescriptionOutsourceable?
Titolare The company or taxpayer producing the document. Legally accountable for conservation. No — this is the fiscal subject.
Responsabile della Conservazione (RdC) Natural person nominated by the Titolare. Guarantor of process compliance. Personal electronic signature. University degree required since 2022. Yes — can be an external consultant (commercialista, certified IT manager).
Conservatore Legal person who physically operates the conservation system. Can be internal to the Titolare or an external AgID-accredited operator. Yes — outsourceable to an AgID accredited operator.

AgID accredited Conservatori

The AgID publishes a public registry of accredited operators (conservatori.agid.gov.it). In 2024, ~70 operators are listed. Main players:

  • InfoCert SpA — historical leader, ~25% market share; sovereign Italian cloud conservation.
  • Aruba PEC SpA — coupled with its PEC and e-invoicing service.
  • Postecom SpA (Poste Italiane) — strong on public sector and banking.
  • Namirial SpA — QTSP + conservazione operator, mid-market focus.
  • Sogei SpA — public operator, conservation for ministries and fiscal agencies.
  • Telecom Italia Trust Technologies (TIM) — enterprise conservation + eIDAS qualification.
  • ArchiviUm (Doxee, Stesi, AgID-Pegaso) — regional and specialised players.
  • Pa Digitale SpA — focus on local PA (comuni, provinces).

CS vs Cassetto Fiscale AdE

The AdE itself keeps a copy of SdI invoices in the taxpayer's Cassetto Fiscale for ~10 years. Does that remove the need for an external Conservatore?

However, since 1 January 2022, the AdE offers an optional free conservazione service via Fatture e Corrispettivi for invoices transited through the SdI. For taxpayers without intermediaries and with modest volume (< 1,000 invoices/year), this service covers minimal compliance. Larger structures remain with a third-party Conservatore.