Change of residence, PEC may be dropped: what the new registry regulation says
The procedure could change: change of residence would be concentrated on the ANPR portal and on the counter of the Comune. But careful: the new rules are not in force yet, and today the PEC can still be used in the cases provided for.
Redazione Bahay 5 min read
In this article
The new regulation is not in force yet. Until the DPR is finally published, the current rules continue to apply. Before you file a declaration, always check the instructions of your Comune.
Changing your residence may soon become a procedure focused even more on the digital services of the Anagrafe Nazionale della Popolazione Residente (ANPR), the national register of residents, and on the counter of the Comune's registry office.
A draft Decree of the President of the Republic is in fact going through the approval process, amending DPR of 30 May 1989, no. 223, the regulation governing the register of the resident population.
One of the changes concerns exactly how certain registry declarations may be filed. For the main declarations relating to residence, the draft reform concentrates filing on the counter of the Comune and on the ANPR online services, removing the PEC — the certified email address — as an alternative channel for these specific procedures.
Careful: nothing has changed yet
This is the most important point. At the moment the new rules are not in force.
The draft regulation has already been through several stages of the administrative process, but the new provisions will become operative only once the process is completed, the DPR is issued and published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale.
Until then, the rules currently in force continue to apply. Article 13 of DPR 223/1989 governs registry declarations and allows them to be filed in the ways permitted by current legislation, in addition to the use of the ANPR online services in the cases provided for. Since 2012 the Ministry of the Interior has also regulated how declarations of change of residence can be filed remotely.
So anyone who has to change residence today should not behave as if the PEC had already been removed.
What should change with the new regulation
According to the draft amendment to the registry regulation, for the main declarations relating to residence the ways of filing should come down mainly to two channels:
- filing at the counter of the Comune's registry office;
- filing online through the ANPR services.
For these procedures the PEC would therefore no longer be available as an alternative channel.
The reform concerns, in particular, declarations about moving in from another Comune, changing address within the same Comune, and certain changes connected to the family or to a registered cohabitation. For other registry changes the rules may continue to allow different ways.
How change of residence through ANPR works today
ANPR already allows various registry operations to be carried out online without going to the counter in person, in the cases covered by the service. To access personal services you normally need a digital identity:
- SPID, the public digital identity system;
- Carta d'Identità Elettronica (CIE), the electronic identity card;
- Carta Nazionale dei Servizi (CNS).
Through ANPR you can file, in the cases provided for, a request to move from one Comune to another or a change of address within the same Comune, and then follow its progress.
If the new regulation comes into force as set out in the draft, ANPR will become even more important for anyone who prefers to do the procedure online. Those who cannot or do not want to use the online service will be able to go to the registry counter in the ways provided for.
Why the registry regulation is being changed
The registry regulation currently in force dates back to 1989. The reform is meant to bring the rules up to date with the digitalisation of the register, the development of ANPR and the new system of the permanent population census.
The legal basis is connected to article 2, paragraph 2, of decree-law of 29 January 2024, no. 7, converted by law of 25 March 2024, no. 38. The draft regulation was approved on a preliminary basis by the Council of Ministers on 4 December 2025. The Italian Data Protection Authority then gave its opinion on 17 April 2026, and the Council of State ruled with opinion no. 1182/2026 of 7 July 2026.
These steps do not mean, however, that the regulation is already operative.
When will the new rules come into force?
At the moment there is still no certain date. Entry into force will depend on the completion of the process and on the publication of the final text of the DPR.
This is why it is important to always distinguish between the rules currently in force and the changes set out in the draft regulation. Until the new DPR is published and in force, anyone who has to file a declaration of residence must continue to follow the ways allowed today and the instructions of their own Comune.
In short
| Today | After the reform comes into force |
|---|---|
| Counter of the Comune | Counter of the Comune |
| ANPR, in the cases available | ANPR |
| Sending to the Comune in the ways allowed today, including the PEC in the cases provided for | PEC no longer provided for the main declarations of change of residence |
| The rules in force of DPR 223/1989 apply | DPR 223/1989 as amended by the new regulation will apply |
The right-hand column describes the changes provided for: the new regulation is not in force as at the verification date of this article.
Do you need to change your residence?
Before filing the declaration, always check the instructions published by the Comune where you want to establish your new residence. If you use ANPR, log in only through the official service and with your own digital identity.
On Bahay Italia you will find the explanations about the documents you need and the guided procedure that prepares the declaration of residence already filled in, ready to hand over.
