Certificates of free sale

Focus on

The Certificate of free sale is a document issued by the Chamber of Commerce at the exporter’s request. It certifies that a product is freely sold and marketed on Italian and EU territory. It does not allow to sell and market goods since it simply acknowledges that a product is already being marketed within the EU.

It does not replace the certificates issued by the Ministry of Health for certain product categories such as medical devices, cosmetics, biocides, dietary supplements, fortified foods, infant formulae, gluten-free foods, growing-up milk, food for special medical purposes, medicines, and other products that require health certification. As a consequence, with reference to the aforementioned products:

• The Chamber does not issue any kind of certificate;
• The Chamber can only affix a visa on powers of signature on the Declaration of free sale issued by the interested business.

Requests for a Certificate of free sale can be submitted to the competent Chamber of Commerce. which is located where the business holds its registered office/branch. Such requests cannot concern products for which an invoice has not yet been issued or which are not included in the business’s commercial activity. A Certificate is valid for only one state and for a periodo of six months from its date of issue; if a request concerns more than one state, a corresponding number of Certificates will be issued with their relevant reference numbers and administrative fees. Certificates of free sale are not issued for EU countries.

How to request it

Certificates of free sale must be requested and paid online via Cert’O system.

In order to use the Cert’O system, it is necessary to:

• own a digital signature device;
• register on registroimprese.it (read the guide).

Once the Cert’O system is accessed, please follow these steps:

• click on “Crea modello”;
• insert either REA number and Province or the business’s fiscal code;
• select “richieste visti autorizzazioni e copie del certificati” in the application type field;
• click on “Avvia compilazione”;
• fill out the required two fields of the form (“Estremi soggetto richiedente: denominazione impresa” and “Dettaglio richiesta: Attestato di libera vendita”);
• click on “Scarica modello base”; the relevant .xml file, to be electronically signed, will automatically be downloaded;
• click on “Continua”;
• type the required data and click on “scegli file” to upload the signed .xlm file, then click on “Avvia creazione”;
• click on “Allega” on the top left side of the page to attach the following documents: 
  • request form, to be sent in Word format, duly filled out and electronically signed; 
  • summary scheme of the attached invoices;
  • copies of invoices concerning sales to Italian or EU clients over the last three months.

The document code to be chosen is always “Attestato libera vendita”, for all the attachments;

• after uploading all the attachments, click on “Invia pratica”;
• indicate “1” in the column “Visti”, corresponding to the relevant request form.

Payment must be made online according to one of the following methods:

• prepaid "Diritti" account on registroimprese.it, rechargeable by credit card (consult the relevant guide). When sending your request, select “Conferma e invia” and the system will automatically charge the sum on registroimprese.it;
• prepaid iConto account Infocamere, rechargeable by bank transfer. When sending your request, select “Conferma e Invia” and the system will automatically charge the sum on iConto;
• via PagoPA service, with a single payment for each application by credit card/ bank transfer/ PayPal/Satispay. This method is mandatory if home delivery of the document is requested.

The certificate is issued within three working days if the request concerns less than 20 products.

 Things to know

 

Self-declarations

The Certificate of free sale can be replaced by a self-declaration of equal content. The self-declaration must be written on letterhead paper and signed by the business’s legal representative. Then, a visa on powers of signature can be affixed on it.

Translations

The Chamber of Commerce issues Certificates of free sale in Italian only. No translation can be provided.

Companies can either request a legal translation from an Italian court or follow the self-certification procedure to translate the certificate into English, French, or Spanish.

The declaration in the chosen language (containing the translated text of the Certificate of free sale) must be filed in duplicate at the Chamber of Commerce. At the same time, it is possible to request that a visa on powers of signature be affixed, and the Italian version of the relevant Certificate be collected. The application for the visa must be accompanied by the declaration in the chosen language (signed as an original by a legal representative), the copy of the signatory’s ID, and the Certificate of Free Sale.