At an event organized in Padua by the Padua Chamber of Commerce, Unioncamere, and InfoCamere, a report by Fondazione Promo PA quantifies the burden of administrative requirements on Italian companies and identifies the use of the National Digital Data Platform and the Impresa-italia.it app as a way to replace millions of self-certifications with automated checks. Data was also presented illustrating the economic value generated by the Business Register from 1996 to 2025, estimated at 34–41 billion.
A total of 3.4 million person-days per year are spent on low-value-added administrative tasks, amounting to a cost of 673.9 million euros – a figure that could be significantly reduced through digitization using tools that already exist: this is the- hefty – cost of the compliance requirements associated with the 10 most common self-certifications that Italian businesses must complete, totaling 27.5 million filings. These findings emerge from a report by Fondazione Promo Pa presented on Friday, May 15, in Padua during the national conference “Transparency, Innovation, and Development: Thirty Years of the Business Register” . The event, promoted by the Padua Chamber of Commerce, Unioncamere, and InfoCamere, served as an opportunity to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Business Register’s launch, which represented and continues to represent a significant innovation in the process of digitization and administrative simplification.
The Business Register we are celebrating today – explained Andrea Prete, President of Unioncamere – holds several records: it is the largest in Europe by number of businesses and ranks among the most advanced systems in the use of innovative digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence and digital identification systems. Furthermore, this platform ranks among the most advanced systems in terms of online services: in fact, only half of European countries offer more than five digital services, and Italy is among them. Among the available services are, among other things, the electronic filing of annual returns and the use of digital services by third parties – features that are still not widely adopted in the rest of Europe. Thanks to this intensive and innovative use of digital technology, the Italian Business Register has, over time, delivered significant benefits to business operations: lower administrative costs, transparency, and a guarantee of legality.
Over forty years ago, right here in Padua – explained Antonio Santocono, President of the Padua Chamber of Commerce and of InfoCamere – Mario Volpato, then president of the Chamber of Commerce, envisioned a network before the Internet and had the visionary insight that gave rise to the first network among public administration recognizing the value of data interoperability decades ahead of its time. In the wake of this innovation, the Business Register was established in 1996, marking a significant acceleration in the relationship between businesses and public administration and becoming a benchmark model even at the international level. A “revolution” that is far from over, a message that remains relevant today: the report’s data highlight the challenges that still lie ahead on the path to simplification, a challenge in which the entire chamber of commerce system is actively engaged.
The Government – as stated in the greeting message sent by the Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso – will continue to refine this essential tool through resources, measures, and simplifications. The Business Register, with its proximity to companies and its ability to offer digital services, will continue in the coming decades to be an indispensable infrastructure for the business community and for MIMIT, which are growing ever closer, thanks in part to the great coordination work carried out by the Chambers of Commerce.” The minister also highlighted the fundamental role played by the Chambers of Commerce in the evolution of the Business Register: “They have brought digital services to where businesses live and operate, breaking down distances and cultural barriers. They were the first to offer essential digital services and served as an operational bridge between national regulations and local needs. This proximity has made the Business Register not just an archive, but an engine of development.
The survey: over an hour on average per form
The survey conducted by Promo PA also estimated an average time of 63 minutes to complete each self-certification and, through a qualitative survey, also asked businesses about the critical issues encountered, highlighting, among the main problems reported, the requirement to resubmit the same declaration for every new procedure with the public administration (8.3 on a scale of 1 to 10), the complexity and repetitiveness of the requirements (7.4), the difficulty in communicating with the public administration (7.4), and the requirement for different forms from different agencies for the same self-certification (7.2 on a scale of 1 to 10).
The research reveals some potential solutions that could help resolve these critical issues. The National Digital Data Platform (PDND), which serves as an interface connecting the databases of INPS, INAIL, the Revenue Agency, the Revenue Agency Collection Division, and the Chambers of Commerce, is known to only 17% of businesses. This very tool is identified as the path to achieving “decertification” by eliminating self-certifications through data acquired at the source in real time and automatically, and validated by the system. InfoCamere has identified three operational priorities: making decertification mandatory by requiring public administrations to upload business data to the PDND; supporting businesses and public administrations through training, digital service desks, and information campaigns; and maximizing the platform’s potential by feeding it with business data, starting with the most frequent certifications. Hence the proposal, launched at the conference, to use the impresa-italia.it app—developed by InfoCamere, which provides easy access to the Business Register, to bring self-certifications directly to entrepreneurs’ smartphones.
During the event, Unioncamere also presented several analyses regarding the total economic value generated – over a thirty-year perio – by the Business Register, estimated to be between 34 and 41 billion euros. According to the data presented, with a total investment between 1996 and 2025 estimated at approximately 7 billion euros, the Business Register generates significant benefits in terms of reduced administrative costs, digital simplification, market transparency, data interoperability, and support for economic legality. Added to these are effects linked to the increased liquidity available for investments and the role of technological investments, particularly those of InfoCamere. Overall, the economic and administrative benefits generated over thirty years of activity are conservatively estimated at approximately 10 billion euros. Added to this figure are the positive externalities resulting from reduced transaction costs for businesses, estimated at between 16 and 24 billion euros.
The program: Mattiello’s keynote speech on AI-related scenarios
The conference was opened by Roberto Crosta, Secretary General of the Padua Chamber of Commerce. This was followed by opening remarks from Antonio Santocono, President of the Padua Chamber of Commerce and of InfoCamere; Andrea Prete, President of Unioncamere; a video message from Adolfo Urso, Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy; Margherita Cera, Councilor for Innovation and Smart City of the City of Padua; Antonio Parbonetti, Vice Rector of the University of Padua; and Massimo Bitonci, Regional Councilor for Economic Development.
Alberto Mattiello, an expert in innovation and technology, presented an analysis of the scenarios related to the transformations brought about in the Business Register by the advent of artificial intelligence.
Subsequently, Giuseppe Tripoli, Secretary General of Unioncamere, discussed the value of the registry’s data and its impact on the economy, while Gaetano Scognamiglio, founder and president of Promo Pa, and Paolo Ghezzi, General Director of InfoCamere, presented the report detailing the cost of bureaucracy.
The second part of the morning was devoted to the presentation of several significant examples of how the Business Register has been used in research, with particular reference to the analysis of organized crime infiltration or in the judicial sphere. The concluding roundtable featured Antonio Parbonetti, Vice Rector of the University of Padua; Alessandra Dolci, Chief Prosecutor of Venice; Teresa Scantamburlo of the University of Trieste; and Giuseppe Limitone, President of the First Civil and Corporate Crisis Section at the Court of Vicenza. The closing remarks were delivered by Roberto Crosta, Secretary General of the Padua Chamber of Commerce.
