TRIESTE – Italy’s national digital registry for seafarers is now law, and the process towards a digital seafarer’s book is officially under way.
Decree-Law 19/2026, Article 11, establishes AGEMAR, the National Digital Registry of Seafarers, with the aim of managing—through interoperable systems—data relating to professional careers, qualifications, embarkations, licences and certifications of maritime workers.
The announcement comes from the board of the Fondo Nazionale Marittimi, which describes it as a structural step for the system. «The digitalisation of these processes is a historic result that places the Italian flag among the most advanced flags worldwide», said Angelo D’Amato, president of the Fondo Nazionale Marittimi. The project, he explained, stems from a proposal shared with Confitarma and Assarmatori, developed together with Formare and Oltremare and presented in 2025 to the MIT’s Directorate General.
The process was also discussed at a conference of the Comitato del Lavoro Marittimo in Procida last summer. Momentum increased thanks to cooperation between the Chamber’s Transport Committee and the MIT’s Directorate General, which opened a dialogue with the Department for Digital Transformation of the Presidency of the Council, using PNRR resources.
The Fund and shipowners’ associations, in agreement with trade unions, supported the administrations in drafting the rule up to its publication in the Official Gazette in recent days. According to Alessandro Ferrari, attorney of the Fondo Nazionale Marittimi, the body will provide full cooperation to the Ministry for Infrastructure and Transport to make the reform operational. The goal is to make the digital registry and the electronic seafarer’s book effectively usable, simplifying procedures for workers and shipping companies.
For Italy’s maritime sector, this step is intended to reduce administrative times, improve career traceability and align the national system with digital standards already adopted by other European flags.
