October 15, 2018

Simplifying the requirements for presenting certain public documents in the European Union

SIMPLIFYING THE REQUIREMENTS FOR PRESENTING CERTAIN PUBLIC DOCUMENTS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

 

Currently, any official document issued by one EU country and presented in another EU country at present has to be translated by a certified translator, verified by a notary, and must be confirmed by a special confirmation issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called the apostille. Such procedure usually takes several days and means additional costs. Due to the new EU Regulation only a multilingual form filled by an official in citizen´s home country will be sufficient and shall replace the apostille requirement.

 

From the February 19, 2019 a new EU Regulation (no. 32016R1191, hereinafter “Regulation“) will be applied to certification of foreign documents within EU. From this date, the apostille will not be longer necessary for certain documents which have to be presented to the authorities of another EU State and the primary purpose of which is to establish one or more of the following facts:

 

(a)  birth; (e.g., Birth certificate)

(b)  a person being alive; (e.g., Confirmation of living)

(c)  death; (e.g., Death certificate)

(d)  name; (e.g., Confirmation of the child’s name)

(e)  marriage, including capacity to marry and marital status; (e.g., Marriage certificate, Certificate of legal capacity to marry, Statement of personal status)

(f)  divorce, legal separation or marriage annulment; (e.g., Divorce judgement)

(g)  registered partnership, including capacity to enter into a registered partnership and registered partnership status; (e.g., Confirmation of a partnership registration, Certificate of legal capacity for a registered partnership)

(h)  dissolution of a registered partnership, legal separation or annulment of a registered partnership; (e.g., Judgement of dissolution of registered partnership)

(i)  parenthood; (e.g., Birth certificate)

(j)  adoption; (e.g., Adoption papers)

(k)  domicile and/or residence; (e.g., Residency confirmation)

(l)  nationality; (e.g., Citizenship certificate)

(m)  absence of a criminal record (e.g., Criminal record)(Art. 2)

 

This EU Regulation was ratified on July 6, 2016, because of the effort of the European Union to: „ensure the free circulation of public documents within the Union and, thereby, promote the free movement of Union citizens…“. It applies to certain official documents issued by the authorities of an EU State in accordance with its national law.

 

Furthermore, it also applies to public documents the presentation of which may be required by citizens of the Union residing in an EU State of which they are not nationals when these citizens wish to vote or stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament or in municipal elections in their state of residence.

 

This Regulation does not apply to:

(a)  public documents issued by the authorities of a third country (above mentioned public documents issued by the authorities of non-EU States); or

(b)  certified copies of documents referred to in point (a) made by the authorities of an EU State

 

By 16 February 2021, the Commission will submit to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee, an assessment report on the appropriateness of:

(a)  the extension of the scope of this Regulation to:

(i)  public documents relating to the legal status and representation of a company or other undertaking;

(ii)  diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications; and

(iii)  public documents attesting an officially recognised disability;

 

(b)  the establishment of multilingual standard forms relating to:

(i)  public documents referred to in 2nd paragraph for which multilingual standard forms are not established by this Regulation; and

(ii)  public documents relating to the matters identified under point (a) to which the scope of this Regulation may be extended;

(c)  the use of electronic systems for the direct transmission of public documents and the exchange of information between the authorities of the Member States in order to exclude any possibility of fraud in relation to the matters covered by this Regulation. (Art. 26)

 

This Regulation is going to simplify life of 13 milion EU citizens who are currently living in different EU country than they come from.
For more information please contact:

 

 

Monika Rutland, partner
rutland & partners, advokátní kancelář s.r.o.
Tel: +420 226 226 026
Email: monika.rutland@rutlands.cz

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