SERVICES
Personnel administration
Certified email (PEC) still active after company deregistration: service is valid
Supreme Court, Labour Section
An entrepreneur challenged two payment notices served by INPS, arguing that service by certified email (PEC) was invalid because it had been carried out after the deregistration of his company from the Companies Register. After the claim was dismissed by both the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, the individual appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court confirmed the validity of electronic service, clarifying that this principle does not derive from insolvency law rules, but from the fact that a PEC mailbox, as long as it remains active, constitutes the digital domicile of the individual for all legal purposes, even if the business activity has ceased. Consequently, notifications sent to that address are deemed to have been validly served.
The Court further reiterated that a professional or business PEC address may also be used for communications unrelated to the main business activity, provided they refer to the same natural person. In this sense, the digital domicile applies to any act served on the individual, as the legal system does not provide for separate addresses for different roles or legal relationships.
The decision consolidates a line of case law that strengthens the effectiveness of electronic notifications, placing on the holder the burden of promptly deactivating or replacing their PEC address if they no longer intend to receive legal communications through that channel.