Recognition and registration of civil status documents in cross-border cases

The right of every citizen of the Union to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, as laid down by Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, implies the right to have their civil identity recognised, i.e., in legal terms, to have their status recognised, as formalised by civil status documents. This firstly means that citizens must be able to easily prove their civil status when exercising their right of movement. Secondly, they must be able to have their civil status events occurring abroad registered in civil status registers. Finally, this status must itself be recognised. The aim of this note is to review these three problematic areas and indicate, for each one, the solutions envisaged by the International Commission on Civil Status, in which the European Union could participate under terms to be defined.