Paper ID cards are no longer required from today: they will still be valid for healthcare, banking, and pension purposes.

Paper ID cards are no longer required as of today: August 3, 2026, was the deadline for using them. This was established by EU Regulation 2025/1208, which requires uniform security standards across all member states.

The Italian paper card does not have a machine-readable zone (MRZ) or a microchip with biometric data, requirements currently mandatory in the European Union.
The Government has intervened by regulating the transition period to the Electronic Identity Card (CIE) with the aim of ensuring the continuity of essential services, protecting existing contractual relationships, and introducing a temporary document also valid for travel abroad in emergency situations.

The paper document, therefore, will continue to be valid for the purposes of identifying the persons involved until the natural expiration date indicated on the document of issue. The paper identity card, in any case, can no longer be used to travel abroad after today, August 3, 2026.

Paper documents remain valid until their expiry date for essential services: here's what they are

Documents that have not yet expired – there are still approximately 5 million paper identity cards – remain valid until their natural expiry date printed on the document, exclusively for: relations with the Public Administration and personal identification; access to essential services and to public or private entities that provide public services; signing public and private contracts (until 31 January 2027 for specific identification cases).

Therefore, it will be possible to continue using the old document for a series of essential activities, including: healthcare services; social security services; insurance procedures; access to public services; withdrawing and depositing money at banks and post offices; collecting pensions; delivering correspondence; notifying legal documents; and procedures at Italian diplomatic and consular representations abroad.