WHAT THEY ARE
"The Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Handicrafts, and Agriculture are public bodies endowed with functional autonomy. They operate within their territorial jurisdiction, based on the subsidiarity principle outlined in Article 118 of the Constitution, performing functions of general interest for the business system, fostering its development within local economies." (Legislative Decree February 15, 2010, No. 23, amendments to Law December 29, 1993, No. 580)

WHAT THEY DO
- Administrative activities: maintenance of registers, lists, directories, and roles, in which the main events characterizing the life of each business are recorded and certified.
- Promotional activities: support for businesses and for the development of the local economy.
- Study, analysis, and monitoring activities of local economic data for a better understanding of the socio-economic reality concerning businesses.
- Market regulation activities: to promote and enhance transparency, certainty, and fairness in economic relationships between businesses and between businesses and citizens.

Chambers of Commerce carry out, within their territorial jurisdiction, functions to support and promote the general interests of businesses and local economies, as well as, subject to the competencies attributed by the Constitution and laws of the State-to-state administrations, regions, and local authorities, functions in administrative and economic matters relating to the business system. Chambers of Commerce, individually or in association, also exercise functions delegated to them by the State and regions, as well as tasks arising from international agreements or conventions, aligning their actions with the subsidiarity principle.

THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE
It is a body:
- Public: as it operates under authority (as well as, obviously, using the normal instruments of private law).
- Autonomous: its autonomy, provided for by law, is statutory and regulatory, financial, and administrative.
- Autarchic: it issues administrative acts that have the same effectiveness as those issued by the State.
- Local: as it operates within a specific jurisdiction, usually coinciding with the province.
- Non-territorial: the authority of the body does not extend to all entities within a given territory, as is the case with Regions, Provinces, and Municipalities.
- Necessary: its establishment is provided for by primary normative sources.
- Non-economic: the pursuit of profit is not among its tasks, and it can carry out economic activities only to a marginal extent and in a manner functional to the
pursuit of institutional objectives.
- Institutional: it represents a general interest, in contrast to associations that pursue the particular interest of their members.

THE CHAMBER SYSTEM
The Italian Chamber system is a universe composed of local Chambers of Commerce, Regional Unions, detached offices, Regional Foreign Centres, Italian Chambers of Commerce Abroad, Special Companies, Euro Info Centres, and over a thousand participations in infrastructure, companies, consortia, and other bodies. In Italy, the Chamber System is represented by Unioncamere, the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce, while on the European level, there is the association of chamber organizations Eurochambres.

MAIN TASKS AND FUNCTIONS: 
- Maintenance of the Business Register, the Economic Administrative Repertoire (EAR), and other registers and lists assigned by law.
- Promotion of simplification of procedures for starting and carrying out economic activities.
- Promotion of the territory and local economies to enhance competitiveness, facilitating access to credit for SMEs also through support for credit consortia.
- Establishment of local economy watchdogs and dissemination of economic information.
- Support for internationalization to promote the Italian business system abroad, in coordination, among other things, with programmes of the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy.
- Promotion of innovation and technology transfer for businesses, also through the creation of computer and telematic services and infrastructure.
- Establishment of arbitral and conciliation commissions for the resolution of disputes between businesses and between businesses and consumers and users.
- Preparation of standard contracts between companies, their associations, and associations for the protection of consumer and user interests.
- Promotion of forms of control over the presence of unfair clauses in contracts.
- Surveillance and control over products and legal metrology, and issuance of certificates of origin for goods.
- Collection of customs and usage.
- Cooperation with schools and universities regarding work-school alternation and career and profession guidance.