WRITTEN QUESTION E-3188/03 by Adeline Hazan (PSE) to the Commission. Harmonisation of civil status records in Europe.
Date: 2003-10-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: administrative cooperation, administrative formalities, approximation of laws, civil status, disclosure of information

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/787

(2004/C 78 E/0837)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3188/03

by Adeline Hazan (PSE) to the Commission

(27 October 2003)

Subject: Harmonisation of civil status records in Europe

Having regard to:

(cid:1) the principle of free movement for persons within the European Union, as enshrined in the Treaty of

Amsterdam;

(cid:1) the lack of a common system for establishing civil status in Europe and the inconvenience suffered by
European citizens as a result of problems in updating civil status records on a day-to-day basis;

(cid:1) the legal restrictions imposed by the existence of the International Commission on Civil Status, based
on the principle of an international agreement which only eight current EU Member States (Belgium,
France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy and Portugal) have thus far signed;

(cid:1) the importance of that committee’s work on the issuing of certain civil status documents intended for
the authorities in other countries,
in particular as regards the establishment of computerised civil
status records guaranteeing the protection of personal data and sufficiently reliable registration
methods;

(cid:1) the cases where the non-inclusion of certain particulars on certificates (marriage, divorce, death) issued

abroad may give rise to discrimination between European citizens;

1.
How can provision be made for exchanges of similar records, such as those concerning marriage,
divorce or even death, as regards certificates issued abroad, between the civil status authorities of the
Member States?

2. What is the state of European law in this area?

3. Which procedures could be harmonised at European level with a view to ensuring compatibility
between civil status systems, in the interests of European citizens?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(12 December 2003)

As at 1 December 2003, no Community legislation governed the establishment of civil status records in
the Member States.

The work undertaken by the International Commission on Civil Status has produced effective solutions
but, as pointed out by the Honourable Member, they apply to only a small number of Member States.

The mutual recognition programme that was adopted at the end of 2000 and drew up, on the basis of the
conclusions of the Tampere European Council, the list of tasks to be undertaken by the Community in the
field of judicial cooperation in civil matters makes no provision for action in this area.

However, several petitions from European citizens relating to the difficulties encountered as a result of the
disparity between the rules governing the establishment and updating of civil status records in the various
Member States have been sent to the Commission.

As a result, the Commission could recommend that the matter be entered in a future work programme.

Since no study on the matter has been undertaken to date by the Commission, the nature of the current
difficulties cannot be identified nor can solutions to remedy the situation be sketched out.