Even 14 year olds will be able to use IT-Wallet and will be able to do so without asking their parents’ permission. This changes the age requirement which, combined with the need to have a SPID or CIE, automatically excluded millions of young Italians from the possibility of using the digital wallet of the Italian Public Administration. The House Budget Committee approved a government amendment to the PNRR decree – il National Recovery and Resilience Plani.e. the program launched in 2021 to revive the national economy after the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – which lowers the access threshold to 14 years.
Even younger users will therefore be able to obtain and exhibit digital documents with full legal value, and in most cases they will be able to do so in full autonomy, without needing the consent of those exercising parental responsibility. This is a significant innovation not only on a practical level, but also on a strategic level: behind this change there is the broader objective of building a reliable digital infrastructure for online age verification, an increasingly central theme in the European debate on the regulation of the use of social networks for minors.
What changes with the amendment on IT-Wallet and 14 year olds
According to the amendment, upon reaching the age of fourteen it will be possible to access the PA’s electronic access point to obtain qualifications and qualifications with legal effects, including those available via IT-Wallet. The text of the bill, signed by the Government, states:
Minors who have reached the age of fourteen are permitted to access and use the electronic access point referred to in this article, also for obtaining and displaying certificates, qualifications or qualifications having legal effects, including those made available through the Italian digital wallet system (IT-Wallet System) referred to in article 64-quater, without requiring the consent of the person holding parental responsibility, except in cases in which the law expressly requires the intervention or authorization of the person exercising parental responsibility for obtaining specific certificates, qualifications or qualifications or for the use of specific services.
As just reported in the quote from the bill, the exception to parental consent is valid in almost all cases. What does it mean? That in most situations, the fourteen year old does not need parental permission to use the IT-Wallet and show your digital documents. The only exception is when a specific law specifically requires that a parent (or guardian) authorize the minor to obtain a certain document or service. In those particular cases, consent remains mandatory. In all other cases – which are the majority – the user who is at least 14 years old can act independently.
On a concrete level, the most useful documents for this age group will be the moped license (obtainable at the age of 14) and the disability card. The IT-Wallet, active in Italy since 4 December 2024, currently allows you to store three documents: driving license, health card and European disability card. By 2027, however, all Public Administrations will have to make their documents available in digital format. It is expected that there will be 200 certified sources from which future documents to be added to IT-Wallet may come.
The extension to minors opens up new scenarios relating to minors’ access to certain online services. Italy, together with the European Union, is experimenting with an open source system, therefore with public and verifiable source code, which could be integrated into the IT-Wallet system to certify the age of users on websites and social networks. The mechanism under study would work by scanning a simple QR code which will provide the platforms with anonymous information consisting of a binary response – “User of age” or “User of age” – without transmitting further sensitive data (such as name, surname, exact age, etc.), which can be used to profile the user in question. A similar approach could resolve one of the most discussed issues in the regulation of social media for minors, offering a robust and privacy-friendly technical tool.
The points that remain open on the digital wallet
However, several open points remain. First of all, it is worth pointing out that the amendment, at the time of writing, was approved by the Commission, but the PNRR decree is still in the process of being converted: the text could undergo changes before becoming final law. The technical implementation methods for minors are not yet available, nor any implementing decrees. Furthermore, the official positions of the Privacy Guarantor and the Children’s Guarantor Authority are missing, whose comments could significantly influence things. And the part relating to age verification on social media also remains undefined at the moment.
