Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2010:608
Date: 2010-10-14
Language of the case: German
Subject matter: Citizenship of the Union;Right of entry and residence;Principles, objectives and tasks of the Treaties
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Austria

summary is adapted from the judgment in Grunkin and Paul, paragraphs 16 to 18, 23 to 28, 29, 36 and 38. 15 – Gesetz vom 3. April 1919 über die Aufhebung des Adels, der weltlichen Ritter- und Damenorden und gewisser Titel und Würden (Adelsaufhebungsgesetz). 16 – Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz (B-VG). 17 – Vollzugsanweisung des Staatsamtes für Inneres und Unterricht und des Staatsamtes für Justiz, im Einvernehmen mit den beteiligten Staatsämtern vom 18. April 1919, über die Aufhebung des Adels und gewisser Titel und Würden. 18 – See point 1 above and points 21 and 27 below. 19 – Bundesgesetz vom 15. Juni 1978 über das internationale Privatrecht (IPR-Gesetz). 20 – ‘Loi applicable à la détermination du nom’, available on http://www.ciec1.org/Documentation/LoiApplicablealaDeterminationduNom.pdf. 21 – Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (ABGB). 22 – Bundesgesetz vom 19. Jänner 1983 über die Regelung der Personenstandsangelegenheiten einschließlich des Matrikenwesens (Personenstandsgesetz – PStG). 23 – Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs vom 11. August 1919 (VDR). 24 – Grundgesetz (GG). 25 – Einführungsgesetz zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuche (EGBGB). 26 – Point 18 and footnote 20 above. 27 – The apparent contradiction between the first two sentences would seem to be due to a misleading use of the phrase ‘country of origin’ to mean ‘country of (ultimate) nationality’, on the assumption that adoption may, but does not always, entail a change of nationality. The ICCS report is available only in French, so it is not possible to know what terms were in fact used by the German authorities in their reply to the questionnaire. 28 – Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB). 29 – Case B 557/03. The surname in question was Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha, Herzog zu Sachsen (which would translate as ‘Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony’). 30 – See point 12 above. 31 – See point 17 above. 32 – Paragraph 13(1) of the IPR-Gesetz; see point 17 above. 33 – Paragraph 10(1) of the EGBGB; see point 22 above. 34 – See ‘Facilitating Life Events, Part I: Country Reports’, of the final report drawn up for the European Commission in October 2008 by von Freyhold, Vial & Partner Consultants, relating to a comparative study on the legislation of the Member States on civil status, practical difficulties encountered by citizens wishing to exercise their rights in the context of a European area of justice in civil matters and the options available for resolving these problems and facilitating citizens’ lives. According to that report, the only exceptions to the freedom of a married woman to retain her own surname seem to be in Italy, where she must add her husband’s surname to her own, and among the Turkish community in Cyprus, where she must take her husband’s surname. In addition, a number of Member States preclude the use of the former spouse’s surname after divorce, unless good cause can be shown. 35 – Although the circumstances of the case are rather different, I note that, in one of its often-cited judgments on freedom of movement (Case C‑19/92 Kraus [1993] ECR I‑1663 – a judgment delivered the day after that in Konstantinidis), the Court laid considerable stress on the fact that possession of the academic title in issue was an advantage in both gaining entry to a profession and prospering in it (see paragraph 18 et seq. of the judgment). 36 – In a written answer to a question put by the Court, the German Government did, however, state that the elements ‘Fürstin von’ and ‘Sayn-Wittgenstein’ were of equal value in the overall surname. 37 – See point 18 above. 38 – See points 16 and 27 above. 39 – Stephanie Graf, for example, is an Austrian athlete (a middle-distance runner) who represented her country in both the 2000 Olympic Games and the 2001 World Athletics Championships, while Andreas Herzog is an Austrian footballer who played in the national team between 1988 and 2003. 40 – ICCS Convention No 21 on the issue of a certificate of differing surnames, signed at The Hague on 8 September 1982. Austria is not a party to that convention (so far, of the Member States, it has been ratified by only Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands), but that would not prevent it from issuing a document of a similar nature for the benefit of those of its citizens who were affected.