If a European citizen undertakes a gender change process, and this change is recognized by the authorities of the nation in which he lives, the other Member States must also recognize it. This was established by the Court of Justice of the EU which in a ruling established that the refusal of a country to recognize the change of name and gender legally acquired in another nation is contrary to the rights of citizens of the Union.
The case
The case arose when a Romanian citizen, registered as female at birth, changed her first name and gender from female to male after moving to the UK. In May 2021, this person asked the authorities in Bucharest to include in his birth certificate the data relating to his change of name, gender and personal identification number to correspond to the male gender, but was refused.
Romania’s no
The Romanian authorities asked their citizen to follow a separate judicial procedure, aimed precisely at obtaining approval from the beginning for the sex change according to local rules. But according to the EU Court, the national legislation on which the refusal decision of the Romanian authorities is based would be “contrary to EU law”. “This applies even if the request for recognition of this change was made after the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union” maintain the judges, recalling that the change of name and gender identity was obtained before Brexit and therefore must considered as “acquired in an EU member state”.
The refusal “obstructs the exercise of the right to free movement and residence”, claims the Court, adding that this refusal together with “the fact of forcing the interested party to initiate a new procedure for changing gender identity in the Member State of origin, exposing him to the risk that the procedure leads to a different result”, are not justified.
