Email certification has become a concrete need for organizations that rely on email for decisions with legal, economic, social or political impact. In most companies, the most important communications still travel by email: commercial agreements, work orders, disputes, legal exchanges, HR notices, claims handling and interactions with public authorities.

Yet a standard email is often fragile as evidence, because its content, integrity, sender or sending time can be challenged. The email certification service provided by TrueScreen is designed to close exactly this gap: every electronic communication can be turned into certified documentation with legal value, ready to be used in disputes, audits, internal investigations or regulatory checks.

Why email certification matters today

Email as the invisible infrastructure of business

According to multiple digital workplace studies, professionals spend several hours a day in their inbox. Despite the rise of chat and collaboration platforms, email remains the primary channel for operational and strategic decisions. In commercial disputes and litigation, emails are often used as documentary evidence to reconstruct who said what, when and under which conditions. This is highlighted, for example, by legal analyses on digital evidence in Italy published by law firms such as D’Andrea & Partners and Norton Rose Fulbright (source, source).

In Italy and across Europe, courts generally accept emails as evidence, but they assess authenticity, integrity and reliability on a case-by-case basis. A simple printout or forwarded message can be questioned: who guarantees that the content has not been modified? That the message truly came from that sender? That it was not manipulated along the way?

The “Digital litigation – Italy” report by CMS Law confirms that standard emails are admissible, but without additional technical guarantees they often carry weaker evidentiary weight than natively certified systems such as certified email (PEC) in Italy (source).

The risk: when a normal email is not enough as evidence

A lack of robust email certification creates very practical risks:

  • A commercial agreement “closed by email” can be challenged on the final wording of the accepted terms.
  • A complaint sent by a customer can raise doubts on the actual date, attachments received and recipients in copy.
  • An HR communication can be disputed on who effectively received it, under which conditions and with which exact wording.

The core question is always the same: how defensible is this email if it becomes part of a lawsuit or an internal investigation?

The email certification capability of TrueScreen addresses exactly this point. Without changing the tools people use every day, it increases the evidentiary value of communications through a forensic, scalable approach.

What is TrueScreen’s email certification

From simple message to certified documentation

TrueScreen’s email certification feature turns any electronic communication – including standard emails and certified emails such as PEC – into certified documentation. Concretely, the system:

  • captures the content, attachments and relevant metadata of the communication;
  • applies a certified timestamp and a digital seal based on a patented forensic methodology;
  • generates a forensic technical report describing the characteristics of the communication, including cryptographic hashes and key metadata.

As a result, each certified message becomes part of a data authenticity and digital provenance layer, where it is possible to demonstrate the origin, integrity and history of the content in a much more robust way.

This email certification process produces evidence that is ready to be:

  • stored in a structured and traceable way;
  • shared with colleagues, lawyers, advisors or authorities when needed;
  • used in disputes, audits or compliance checks.

Email certification: delivery vs content

When talking about email certification, it is useful to distinguish between two different layers:

  • certifying sending and delivery: proving that a communication was sent and delivered at a certain date and time;
  • certifying content: proving that text, attachments and metadata have not been altered and correspond to a specific historical version.

The solution provided by TrueScreen focuses primarily on the second layer. Email certification creates a forensic “snapshot” of the email and its attachments at a precise moment in time, with a methodology designed to support use in legal and regulated environments.

Email certification and PEC: different tools for different needs

What certified email (PEC) does

In Italy, certified email (PEC) is legally equivalent to a registered letter with return receipt for certain types of communications. In terms of email certification, PEC mainly guarantees:

  • proof of sending and delivery;
  • reliable date and time of the operation;
  • formal recognition within the Italian legal framework, for example in civil proceedings.

Legal commentaries describe PEC as the current standard for formal notifications, communications with public administrations and many professional exchanges (source).

What TrueScreen’s email certification adds

TrueScreen’s email certification does not replace PEC. It complements and extends it:

  • it works with any email, not only PEC: standard corporate email, international communications, multi-provider flows;
  • it focuses on the content, attachments and relevant metadata, certifying their integrity and provenance;
  • it generates a forensic technical report designed to support evidentiary requirements in different jurisdictions and case contexts;
  • it acts as a transversal trust layer across existing email infrastructures.

In many situations, the most robust approach is to combine PEC and email certification from TrueScreen:

  • PEC manages the certified sending and delivery where mandated by Italian law;
  • Email certification ensures that the content of the communication – whether PEC or standard email – is acquired and preserved with a forensic methodology, ready to be used as digital evidence.

How TrueScreen’s email certification works in practice

Email certification directly from TO, CC or BCC

One of the main strengths of TrueScreen’s email certification is its simplicity.

To certify an email you simply:

  • use the dedicated certification address provided by TrueScreen for your organization;
  • add it in the TO, CC or BCC field of the message you want to certify;
  • send the email as you normally do.

The system receives the communication, forensically acquires its content and attachments and automatically generates the email certification with its technical report. There is no need to change email client, provider or user habits: the certification layer remains transparent for end users.

Server-to-server forwarding for automated email certification

For IT teams and domain administrators, email certification can also be fully automated through standard mail server settings:

  • define forwarding rules for specific mailboxes or domains (for example claims@…, hr@…, legal@…);
  • all emails matching those rules are automatically forwarded to TrueScreen’s email certification service;
  • for end users, nothing changes: email works as usual, while critical communications are silently certified in the background.

In many scenarios, this can be implemented without writing a single line of code, simply by configuring forwarding rules within the existing mail server.

Where email certification evidence is stored

All generated email certifications are accessible via the TrueScreen web portal, where you can:

  • review the forensic report associated with each certified email;
  • check hashes, timestamps, metadata and other technical elements;
  • organize evidence by case, client, claim, project or legal matter;
  • securely share certified documentation with colleagues, advisors or authorities.

In this way, email evolves from a fragile communication channel into a structured archive of court-ready digital evidence.

Horizontal use cases for email certification

Email certification for law firms and in-house legal teams

For law firms and corporate legal departments, email certification is highly valuable in contexts such as:

  • negotiations with counterparties during contract drafting and revision;
  • formal notices, cease-and-desist letters, termination letters;
  • sharing of drafts and sensitive attachments.

Having email certification on these exchanges means building a clearer, more defensible evidentiary record, without reconstructing chains of forwards and missing attachments after the fact.

Email certification for HR and labor relations

In HR, systematic email certification helps manage:

  • disciplinary notices and formal warnings;
  • distribution of internal policies, regulations and information notices;
  • exchanges with unions, employee representatives or external advisors.

Organizations can reduce the risk of disputes over “who received what and when”, and demonstrate the exact content of key communications, supporting fair and transparent processes.

Email certification for insurance and claims management

In the insurance industry, email is central to:

  • opening and managing claims;
  • exchanging documentation with policyholders, loss adjusters and partners;
  • agreeing on amounts, conditions, exclusions and deadlines.

Email certification makes it easier to reconstruct the full communication history, reduce ambiguity and accelerate decisions. This matches the broader trend toward digital, data-driven claims management highlighted by regulators and industry bodies such as EIOPA (source).

Email certification for construction, procurement and suppliers

In construction, procurement and complex supply chains, email certification supports the management of:

  • work orders and change orders during execution;
  • approvals for modifications, work suspensions and restarts;
  • disputes over timelines, costs, quality and responsibilities.

When many stakeholders are involved, having email certification on critical exchanges makes it easier to reconstruct what happened, when and on which terms, reducing the risk of complex, costly disputes.

Email certification for the public sector, politics and complex organizations

For public bodies, political organizations and complex institutions, email is often the backbone of external communication:

  • interactions with citizens, associations and interest groups;
  • management of complaints, whistleblowing and access-to-information requests;
  • communications that influence decisions with social or political impact.

Email certification helps demonstrate consistency, transparency and traceability in decision-making and communication processes, reinforcing accountability and public trust.

Legal and compliance aspects of email certification

Email certification and digital evidence

Italian and European case law confirms that emails are generally admissible as evidence, but their actual weight depends on how well authenticity and integrity can be demonstrated (source, source).

Email certification with TrueScreen fits into this landscape by providing:

  • a patented forensic methodology for acquiring and preserving digital evidence;
  • technical reports designed to support legal and regulatory use;
  • alignment with international standards on the acquisition, management and integrity of digital evidence, consistent with guidelines such as ISO/IEC 27037 and the EU eIDAS framework, as outlined in TrueScreen’s official documentation.

In many situations, a robust email certification process can help strengthen the admissibility and probative value of communications, although the final assessment will always depend on the jurisdiction and the specific case.

How to roll out email certification in your organization

Three practical steps to get started

  1. Map critical mailboxes
    Identify where email certification can make the greatest difference: legal, claims, HR, procurement, public-sector relations, key account management and so on.
  2. Define forwarding rules
    Decide how to apply email certification:
    • manual use of the TrueScreen certification address in TO/CC/BCC for high-risk emails;
    • automatic server-level forwarding for specific mailboxes or domains.
  3. Train the involved teams
    Run short sessions to explain what email certification is, when to use it, and how to access evidence in the TrueScreen portal.

Embedding email certification into policies and processes

Email certification can be embedded into:

  • risk and compliance policies;
  • document management and case management procedures;
  • internal and external audit and inspection processes.

This way, email stops being a weak point in your information landscape and becomes part of a broader digital provenance infrastructure, where every high-impact communication is verifiable, authentic and traceable by design.

FAQ: the most common questions about email certification

In this section you will find clear answers to the most frequent questions about email certification with TrueScreen: how it relates to PEC, technical requirements and use in international contexts.


Does email certification replace PEC?

No. PEC and email certification by TrueScreen serve different purposes and can work together. PEC primarily provides proof of sending and delivery within the Italian legal framework. Email certification by TrueScreen focuses on content, attachments and metadata, and applies to any email (PEC or standard), generating forensic documentation that can be used as digital evidence.


Do I need to change my email provider to use TrueScreen’s email certification?

In most cases, no. To enable email certification with TrueScreen you simply add the dedicated certification address in TO, CC or BCC, or configure forwarding rules on your existing mail server. You can keep your current provider and client, while adding a layer of authenticity and traceability on top.


Is IT involvement required to start using email certification?

For manual use, where end users add the certification address to individual emails, IT involvement can be minimal. If you want to automate email certification for specific mailboxes or domains through server-to-server forwarding, it is recommended to involve your IT or email administrators to configure the rules correctly.


Is email certification valid for international communications or emails in other languages?

Yes. Email certification with TrueScreen operates on the digital content of the communication (text, attachments, metadata) and is not limited by language. The concrete evidentiary impact will always depend on the jurisdiction and the specific case, but the methodology is designed to create robust digital evidence usable in different legal contexts.


How long are email certification records preserved?

Email certification records are stored according to the policies and solutions chosen by each organization, with the goal of ensuring integrity, traceability and long-term access. During implementation, it is possible to define retention, archiving and preservation policies that match legal, regulatory and internal compliance requirements.

Discover how to enable email certification with TrueScreen

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