ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Italian rules on cloud computing, both with reference to the national legal framework on electronic recordkeeping and digital preservation systems and to the national and international standards and guidelines, including the directives and the guidelines proposed by the ITrust project. In particular, the chapter takes into consideration the state of recent Italian legislation and policies for the use of cloud computing services and assesses their peculiarities against the crucial requirements identified at national and international levels for effective recordkeeping and digital preservation systems in order to build trust in an open digital environment. After a survey of the Italian legislation and policies, the chapter presents an assessment against the ITrust cloud contracts checklist, taking into account four case studies of institutions which have already implemented cloud services in some specific areas. Findings of this study show the need for more attention and a more precise and detailed effort when setting up cloud services. It also confirms the importance of a generic checklist to analyze complex functions.
