WRITTEN QUESTION E-3123/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(30 October 2002)

Subject: Mutual recognition of registry office records and residence documents between the Member States in the interests of citizens moving within the Community

1. Is the Commission familiar with the experience, described below, of a Netherlands man who began a relationship in Ireland with an Irish lady born in England and who later returned to the Netherlands with his wife and child? The circumstances were as follows:

(a) It was particularly easy for the man to settle in Ireland, where, despite that fact that contrary to information given to him beforehand no police station was prepared to register the newcomer, it nevertheless proved possible without official registration or a residence permit to apply for a tax number, work, obtain insurance and take driving lessons;

(b) There was no problem registering the mother and daughter in the Netherlands, but registration of their relationship as mother and daughter was refused because the English birth certificate both the original document and a recently stamped and signed declaration was not recognised in the Netherlands on the grounds that the United Kingdom had not signed an agreement;

(c) A declaration of guardianship by an Irish court together with a declaration by the Irish child benefit agency were also not accepted as evidence of the mother-daughter relationship;

(d) The persons concerned were told to request a new copy with an apostil, i.e. an expensive, stamped declaration by a court authenticating the signature of a minister, official or notary, although the authorities in the Netherlands could not say where this could be obtained in the United Kingdom;

(e) It was recorded on the extract from the population register issued to the wife that she did not hold a valid residence permit and that, in the absence of such a permit, she was not allowed to take a driving test.

2. Which other Member States require a birth certificate as a precondition for registration as a resident?

3. Are there other cases of EU Member States not recognising each other's registry office documents and making it more difficult for residents and partners of different nationalities to live together? Has the Commission's approach to date been one of accepting such situations or has it taken action that has led to changes?

4. Does the Commission expect the accession of new Member States to the EU to lead to greater confusion in relation to such matters and to more individuals being disadvantaged as a result of countries' failure to recognise each other's documents? What steps have been taken in preparing for accession to prevent such problems from increasing?

5. What coordination measures are being taken in order to permanently eliminate this problem, ensuring that documents recognised in a Member State remain valid in another Member State without any need for separate bilateral agreements, except where it is shown by means of an established procedure, a procedure which is the same for all, that such a document has been obtained wrongfully or with criminal intent?

Answer by M. Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(19 December 2002)

1. Article 18 of the EC Treaty states that every citizen of the Union has the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, subject to the limitations and conditions laid down in the Treaty and by the measures adopted to give it effect.

Under current Community law, citizens of the Union may enter another Member State and stay there simply on presentation of a valid identity document (passport or identity card). If they intend to stay for more than three months they are required to apply for a residence permit.

In order for them to obtain a residence permit, Member States may only require production of a valid identity document (passport or identity card) and proof that they are engaged in an economic activity. Anyone intending to reside in another Member State who is not engaged in an economic activity must show that they have sickness insurance covering all risks in that Member State and sufficient resources so as not to place a burden on its social welfare scheme. There is no provision under Community law for presentation of a birth certificate in order to obtain a residence permit.

Children under the age of 21 or dependent children have the right to reside with a citizen of the Union exercising his or her right of free movement. Such citizens have to present a document issued by their Member State of origin or the Member State from which they are moving, proving that they are the parent.

The mutual recognition of decisions regarding parental responsibility is the subject of a Commission proposal for a regulation that is currently under discussion in the Council. Under the proposal, decisions by a court in a Member State regarding guardianship of a child would be recognised in the other Member States without any further special formalities.

2. As regards the documents required by a Member State in order to record its own residents in the population register, the Commission does not know what practices the Member States follow, since the rules on entering their own nationals in the population register are a matter for each individual Member State. As regards citizens of the Union, the Member States observe the rules stated above.

3. A Convention on the mutual recognition of documents issued by another Member State was agreed between the States that were then members of the Community on 25 May 1987. However, it never came into force because it was not ratified by all the Member States.

On the other hand, fourteen of the fifteen Member States of the Union, including Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, are parties to the Convention adopted at the Hague Conference on Private International Law on 5 October 1961, abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents. The Convention provides for complex legalisation formalities in the contracting States to be replaced by the mere addition of the apostille. In the United Kingdom these are issued by Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London S.W. 1.

4. Nine of the ten States due to join the Union in the near future are parties to the 1961 Hague Convention. Their accession to the Union should not, therefore, pose any particular problem in terms of recognition of public documents.

5. Given the relative simplicity of the formalities required in application of the Convention, there appears to be no need for particular measures in the immediate future.