SIA represents the archive administration body; the archive is controlled by the Bank of Italy, which has entrusted SIA with the related administration by a concessionary act.

The objective of creating this archive is to increase the level of reliability of the payment instruments through the centralized management and identification of the following information:

• personal data of the drawers of bank or Post Office checks issued without authorization or without funds;
• bank or Post Office checks issued without authorization or without funds, as well as checks not returned to the banks and to the Post Offices after authorization has been revoked; 
•  financial and accessory penalties imposed for issuing bank or Post Office checks without authorization or without funds, as well as criminal sanctions and associated prohibitions applied for failing to comply with the obligations imposed
• personal data of the party for whom authorization to use the payment card has been revoked;
• payment cards for which authorization of use has been revoked;
• bank and Post Office checks and payment cards that have been reported stolen or lost.

The notifying bodies under obligation to provide the aforementioned information are:

• banks 
• Poste Italiane S.p.A.
• supervised financial brokers that issue payment cards
• prefectures through the Interior Ministry
• Authorities through the Ministry of Justice.

The archive consists of a central section (central archive) and remote sections (local archives) which are resident at the notifying bodies and the prefectures through the Interior Ministry.

The central archive includes a common sector containing the identification data of the parties (natural person and party other than a natural person) named in the notification and several sub-sectors specific to each item of information.

Checks scenario

1.  CAPRI segment: lists the information relating to the payment instrument that has been used illegally, generating the revocation of the subject from authorization to issue checks;
2.   PASS segment: lists the information regarding checks that have been reported stolen, lost or not returned to banks and post offices after the authorization had been revoked or for other reasons.

Registration in the archive generates the revocation of every authorization to issue checks; in addition, the revocation entails prohibition for any bank or Post Office to enter into new check agreements with the drawer for a period of six months and to pay the checks drawn by the same party following registration in the archive.

Payment cards scenario

1.   CARTER segment: lists the information regarding persons not permitted to use payment cards;
2.   PROCAR segment: lists the information regarding stolen, lost or revoked cards.

Sanctions scenario 

1.   ASA segment: lists information regarding administrative sanctions imposed by the competent authorities. The data is transmitted by the prefect to the central archive (CAI).
2.   ASP segment: lists the information regarding penalties imposed by the competent authorities. The data is transmitted by the Central Judicial Register to the CAI.

The procedure provides for the establishment of the central archive and the relative data entry by the notifying bodies, disclosure of the archive and consultation of the information contained in the individual local archives in order to verify the correct use of the payment instruments.

Dialogue between the archives is achieved via the National Interbank Network in message switching and file transfer mode.

The notifying bodies forward to SIA the information pertinent to each segment on a daily basis and receive the related confirmations and data according to the cut-offs set for each segment. Additionally, replication of the entire up-to-date archive may be requested at any time.