Meritorious Award

Attestato benemerenza

The attestation of public merit is a recognition conferred to persons, administrations, bodies, institutions or organizations of the National Service that demonstrate to have participated with merit in civil protection operations and contributed to enhance the image of the National System, demonstrating significant proactive and managerial skills or act of altruism.

See the list and register of beneficiaries

The certificate of public merit is conferred by the President of the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Head of the Civil Protection Department who provides for the issuance and forwarding of diplomas. The holder of the diploma has the right to bear the insigna  - i.e. medals on which the bands bearing the name and the year of the emergency relating to the award are attached - to be purchased at own expense.

The certificate of public merit can be granted for all events for which the state of emergency is declared pursuant to art. 2, paragraph 1, letter c, of Law of 24 February 1992, no. 225 and subsequent amendments and additions. The procedure starts once the state of emergency concerning the event for which the concession is requested has been closed.

A certificate of public merit may be granted:

Collectively: to public and private administrations and bodies, to institutions and organizations that make up the components and operational structures of the National Civil Protection Service (in possession of the tax code) that have applied for it to have participated in rescue, assistance and solidarity activities during emergency events.

Individually: Italian or foreign citizens who belong to public or private administrations and bodies, institutions and organizations of the National Civil Protection Service that are reported by the bodies to which they belong (also called top reporting) for having distinguished themselves during emergency events.

To memory: if the person has lost his or her life in the course of operations relating to an emergency event or as a result of events occurring in such circumstances.

The application for a public merit certificate must be submitted, through the contact person of the appropriate accredited body, (for accreditation: https://servizi.protezionecivile.it/PIB/Home/RegolamentoPrivato), within three months of the date of closure of the state of emergency relating to the event for which recognition is requested. For additional information, please write to benemerenze@protezionecivile.it.

If you already have a certificate of public merit, granted pursuant to the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of 5 May 2014 published in the Official Gazette no. 200 of 29 August 2014, to request a new award you must wait three years from the date of the last decree with which the previous merit was granted.

In order to obtain the attestation of public merit, it is necessary to follow a process that provides that it is the body to which it belongs (reporting summit) to report to the Department of Civil Protection the names of persons deemed worthy of recognition. (Regulations can be found at https://servizi.protezionecivile.it/PIB/Home/RegolamentoPrivato).

Contact persons must be accredited to the PIB procedure (https://pib.protezionecivile.it/PIB/Home) and to the Department Portal at https://servizi.protezionecivile.it.

Formally accredited contact persons will then obtain credentials at the end of the procedure to enter the necessary documentation for the applications of the members of the body they represent. Successful entry of applications (not documentation) must be communicated by formal note to the Department's pec (protezionecivile@pec.governo.it) and mailbox benemerenze@protezionecivile.it.

Subsequently, the applications are analyzed by a permanent Commission that submits those evaluated positively to the Head of the Civil Protection Department. The latter proposes the list to the President of the Council of Ministers, who makes it official by decree. The latter proposes the list to the President of the Council of Ministers, who makes it official by decree. It is the Civil Protection Department that issues the certificates of public merit. Those who hold the diploma have the right to bear the insignia, buying it at their own expense.

The first lists of those who, individually or collectively, have been awarded the certificate of public merit, after the entry into force of the new legislation, are contained in the following decrees of the President of the Council of Ministers:

  • decree no.210 of July 18, 2016 published in the Official Gazette of September 8, 2016;
  • decree no.116 of March 13, 2017 published in the Official Gazette of May 20, 2017;
  • decree of November 2, 2018, published in the Official Gazette no.18 of January 22, 2019;
  • decree of November 2, 2018, published in the Official Gazette no. 37 of February 13, 2019
  • decree of October 20, 2020, published in the Official Gazette no. 10 of January 14, 2021.
  • decree of February 27, 2023, published in the Official Gazette no.140 of June 17 2023.

The establishment of the certificate of public merit is governed by the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of May 5, 2014, published in the Official Gazette No. 200 of August 29, 2014. The decree implementing this measure was signed on March 20, 2015 by the Head of the Department of Civil Protection and was published in Official Gazette No. 131 of June 9, 2015. With these decrees, the previous legislation in this area is repealed. On June 25, 2020, the Head of Department also signed a clarification circular on certificates of public merit.