Italian Constitutional Court: chat messages are correspondence and remain protected after delivery

In judgment no. 170/2023, decided on 22 June 2023 and filed on 27 July 2023, the Italian Constitutional Court ruled on a conflict of powers between the Senate and the Florence Public Prosecutor's Office, which had acquired a senator's WhatsApp messages and e-mails from phones seized from third parties. The Court held that correspondence under Articles 15 and 68(3) of the Constitution covers every communication of thought between specific persons, including e-mail, SMS and WhatsApp messages, whatever the technical means. Messages do not lose that status once received and read, since treating them as mere documents would strip e-mail and instant messaging of constitutional protection. Acquiring stored messages is a seizure of correspondence, not an interception. The reasoning supports treating EncroChat and SkyECC chats in Italian proceedings as protected communications rather than documents.