Italian electronic identity card


The carta di identità elettronica is an Italian personal identification document issued to any Italian citizen and to legal aliens, that has been progressively replacing the :it:Carta_d'identità_cartacea_italiana|paper-based identity card since the latest version has been released on 4 July 2016.
The CIE is intended for both online and offline identification.
The information is both printed on an ID-1 card and stored in a contactless chip.
After about 15 years of trials, finally as per decree of 25 May 2016 every classic identity card with expired validity must be replaced by the electronic version.
On 18 July 2019, the Minister of Foreign Affairs signed a decree allowing Italians who reside abroad to request an electronic identity card.

Overview

Italian citizens are entitled to request an identity card, that is an optional identity document in Italy and is also a valid document to leave the country when travelling to another EU country or to those countries with which Italy has signed specific agreements.
Despite any government-issued document can be shown for identification, the identity card is very popular in Italy; so much so that it is the first document asked and the most accepted in both the public and private sectors.
It is not compulsory to carry the card itself, as the authorities may ask for only the identity of a person, not a specific document. However, if public-security officers are not convinced of the claimed identity, like from a verbally-provided identity claim, they may keep the claimant in custody until the identity is ascertained.
All foreigners in Italy are required by law to have identification with them at all times. Citizens of EU member countries must be ready to display an identity document that is legally government-issued in their country. Non-EU residents must have their passport with customs entrance stamp or a residence permit issued by Italian authorities; while all the resident/immigrant aliens must have a residence permit, foreigners from certain non-EU countries staying in Italy for a limited amount of time may be required only to have their passport with proper customs stamp.
The identity card is usually for Italian citizens, nonetheless, even permanent resident aliens with a valid permesso di soggiorno ' may request one, but in this case the document is valid only and exclusively in Italy for identification purposes and the sentence "NON VALIDA PER L'ESPATRIO" ' is printed on the front side of the card.
The labeling of the cards is in Italian and English. In South Tyrol they are issued with German as a third language, in the Aosta Valley with French and in Friuli Venezia Giulia with Slovenian.

Issuing system & costs

The CIE can be requested at the Italian municipality of residence by Italian citizens and resident aliens. The request is digitally processed and transmitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs which issues the card in collaboration with the IPZS in Rome. Finally, the card is sent to an address chosen by the applicant and it should arrive within 6 business days. The costs are: €16.79 for the card issuing and €5.42 for fees charged by the municipality, which may vary if the previous card was lost, stolen or deteriorated.
Starting from 20 September 2019 the request can be submitted even at the Italian embassies/consulates just by Italian citizens residing abroad. After a test time at the consular offices in Vienna, Athens and Nice, the service is extended to all the European Union and to some countries where Italians have the right of free movement. The issuing process is the same as in Italy and the card should arrive within 15 days. The costs are: €21.95 in case of renewal or first issue, otherwise €27.11 if the previous card was lost or stolen.

Conctactless chip

Like European biometric passports, the CIE has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip that stores the following items:
The information can be read with NFC tools, but anyway fingerprints are accessible just by police forces.

Physical appearance

The card has an ID-1 standard size and it is made of polycarbonate with many security features, over which the information is printed by using the laser engraving technology.
About the design, the front side bears the emblem of the Italian Republic and the background of the reverse side is derived from the geometric design of the Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome created by Renaissance artist and architect Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Front

  1. Card number
  2. Issuing municipality
  3. Surname
  4. Name
  5. Place and date of birth
  6. Sex
  7. Height
  8. Nationality
  9. Date of issue
  10. Date of expiry
  11. Holder's signature
  12. Card Access Number – CAN
  13. This field is located under the CAN and it doesn't exist if the document is valid to travel abroad. On the contrary, the sentence "NON VALIDA PER L'ESPATRIO" is printed if it's not valid to travel abroad.

    Reverse

  14. Surname and name of parents or legal guardian
  15. Italian fiscal code
  16. Italian birth code
  17. Residence address
  18. This field is located under the residence and it usually doesn't exist. However, in case of an Italian applicant living abroad, the sentence "COMUNE DI ISCRIZIONE AIRE" is printed and followed by the name of the municipality where the applicant was resident before moving abroad
  19. Italian fiscal code in the form of barcode
  20. Machine Readable Zone – MRZ

    Validity

According to the Law 106/2011 the card lasts:
and, according to the Law 35/2012, the validity is extended or shortened in order to expire on the birthday.