When a binational EU citizen has had a change of forename, surname or gender recorded in the civil status register of one of the Member States of which they are a national, their country of second nationality must recognise and record these changes, said the Court’s Advocate General Richard de la Tour in his opinion published on Tuesday 7 May.
He was responding to a request for an opinion from a Bucharest court concerning a Romanian citizen who claimed that his Romanian birth certificate should be brought into line with his new forename and gender identity, as recognised in the United Kingdom, the country of which he is also a national. The court had asked the Court of Justice whether Brexit had any effect on the recognition of the changes concerned.
The Advocate General’s response is that the forename and gender changes were made while the United Kingdom was still part of the European Union. The principle of free movement therefore applies, and Romania must recognise these changes and enter them in the civil status register. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)