Digital document preservation: A-Cube API solutions

Saving electronic invoices, receipts or accounting books in your own archive does not protect against any audits or legal issues that may arise in the future. To preserve your documents in compliance with the law, one further step is required: digital preservation. This is a mandatory process, often considered complex or overly technical but essential for maintaining the legal validity of documents over time. 

In this article, we clarify the prerequisites that make it compliant, the obligations set out in the regulations and the solutions that can streamline this process. For example: did you know that you can adopt A-Cube APIs to automate digital preservation?

What is compliant digital preservation

Digital preservation, also called compliant digital preservation, is a process through which legal value is assigned to digital documents and their authenticity, integrity and retrievability are guaranteed over time. To this end, specific technological tools must be used and precise rules followed, which make it possible to dematerialise paper documents, digitise them and preserve them in compliance with regulations. These are governed by the Digital Administration Code (CAD) and the AgID guidelines. 

In other words, digital preservation is a process that turns a simple document into a piece of evidence, ready to be produced if necessary, in the event of a check or dispute. 

For companies, professionals, public bodies and tax intermediaries, adopting a digital preservation system is not just a compliance obligation or an option, but a legal requirement. It is a guarantee of security and traceability, indispensable for tackling digital transformation in a truly compliant and sustainable way. Documents that must be preserved include electronic invoices, accounting books, VAT registers, legally relevant certified email (PEC), electronic receipts and other digital documents with legal value.

In addition to allowing documents to be preserved and retrieved quickly, digital preservation also helps reduce the space and costs needed to archive paper documents. Finally, it provides protection from physical damage or loss.

Difference between document archiving and digital preservation

When talking about digital preservation of documents, we are not referring to simple digital archiving. A file saved on a server or in the cloud is not necessarily compliant with the law automatically. So, although the two terms “document archiving” and “digital preservation” are often incorrectly used as synonyms, in reality they refer to very different activities. The difference can be seen both from a regulatory and a legal point of view.

The archiving of documents concerns the management of paper or digital documents. It is a broad, generic activity aimed at organising them and making them easily accessible. It can therefore include scanning invoices, contracts and the like and storing them on media such as servers, hard drives or in the cloud. However, this activity does not guarantee the legal value of the archived documents nor does it ensure compliance with Italian law.

As we have seen, digital preservation is a regulated process that makes it possible to digitise an analogue document with full legal value or to maintain the legal validity of a native digital document over time. In the next paragraph we will see how. 

Technical standards for digital preservation

For it to be valid from a regulatory point of view, digital preservation must comply with a series of technical standards defined by the AgID Guidelines. The main requirements are:

• the application of the digital signature and timestamp, which guarantee the document's authenticity and a certain date respectively;

• 
  

  
  

• the structuring into archiving packages (SIP, AIP, DIP) to ensure traceability and readability over time;

• 
  

  
  

• the presence of a preservation manager, that is, the person responsible for overseeing the entire process and ensuring compliance.

Another often overlooked but essential aspect is interoperability. A compliant preservation system must allow access to documents even years later, regardless of the platform used.

As for retention periods, it is useful to know that they vary according to the type of document. In general, however, the period is at least 10 years in accordance with Italian civil and tax law. Correct management of these time constraints is essential to avoid problems during audits or inspections.

The risks of non-compliant preservation

Ignoring the obligations related to the digital preservation of tax documents is not just a bureaucratic issue. It can have very concrete consequences, both legally and financially.

The first risk is losing the legal validity of documents. Without preservation carried out according to AgID standards, an electronic invoice, an accounting record or a certified email could no longer be considered valid in the event of a check by the Revenue Agency or other bodies.

This is compounded by the inability to produce the document within the times and in the manner required, for example during a tax inspection or in litigation. Without a system that ensures integrity, readability and retrievability over the long term, the document risks being unusable even if it formally exists.

The consequences? Penalties, loss of credibility with customers and partners, damage to the company's reputation and - in the most serious cases - legal action. In an increasingly digital and regulated environment, compliant preservation of digital documents is not just a formality: it protects your business.

A‑Cube's API Preservation: compliant digital preservation, without complications

Managing the digital preservation of documents correctly can seem like a complex process, especially for those who need to integrate it within already structured workflows. This is where A‑Cube API Preservation comes in: a solution designed to make this procedure simpler, safer and compliant.

Through a set of REST APIs, API Preservation allows electronic invoices, certified emails, accounting records or digitally signed documents to be sent to the compliant preservation system. The system allows every stage to be automated : from applying the digital signature and timestamp, through to archiving for 10 years in line with the AgID Guidelines. It is a service that can be fully integrated with ERP, management software, CRM or systems already used for managing Stripe or Peppol. It is therefore ideal both for companies and for software providers that want to offer compliant digital preservation as a native feature.

The system allows different types of documents to be preserved, such as employees' payslips, contracts, transport documents, the Fixed Asset Register and General Ledger, customer and supplier orders, VAT registers and voluntary registers. Once preserved with API Preservation, each of these documents retains its legal value over time and remains easy to retrieve. It is indeed possible to use search filters that can be applied, for example, by status or creation date.

Digital preservation: from obligation to opportunity

Adopting a digital preservation solution like the one designed by us at A-Cube makes it possible to turn a compliance task that can be complex into a smooth and automatic process. In addition, it guarantees full compliance with regulations. Do you want to secure your documents? Discover API Preservation or ask for more information at info@acubeapi.com.