On this page
- What the Regulation does, and what it does not do (Articles 1, 2(4) and 27)
- Which documents are covered: thirteen facts and election documents (Article 2(1) and 2(2))
- What counts as a public document (Article 3)
- No legalisation, no Apostille and certified copies (Articles 3(3), 3(4), 4 and 5)
- Translations: when they cannot be required, and certified translations (Article 6)
- Multilingual standard forms: which documents, how they are issued and what they are worth (Articles 7 to 12)
- When an authority doubts a document: the IMI procedure (Articles 13 to 16 and 20)
- The Apostille Convention, other agreements and other EU rules (Articles 1(1), 17 and 19)
- Documents issued outside the EU: Turkish, UK, US and other third-country documents (Article 2(3))
- Practical steps before you move or present a document
- Frequently asked questions
A Portuguese mother living in Brussels needs her birth certificate to register her baby. A Polish man marrying in Florence has to show that he is free to marry. A French citizen in Munich wants to stand as a candidate in municipal elections. A Romanian couple divorcing in Valencia must prove their marriage. Each of them holds a document issued by one EU Member State and has to present it to the authorities of another. Since 16 February 2019, Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 sets the rules for that step for a defined list of documents: no legalisation, no Apostille, simpler rules on copies and translations, and an optional multilingual form attached to the document.
This guide is written for EU citizens and families who move between Member States and have to use their civil status and similar documents there: to register a birth, to marry or enter a registered partnership, to divorce, to change a name, to apply for nationality or to vote or stand in elections. It follows the text of Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2016 on promoting the free movement of citizens by simplifying the requirements for presenting certain public documents in the European Union and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012, as published in the Official Journal (L 200, 26 July 2016). It deals with formalities, not with the legal effect of a document's content.
What the Regulation does, and what it does not do (Articles 1, 2(4) and 27)
Article 1(1) describes the Regulation's subject matter. In relation to certain public documents which are issued by the authorities of a Member State and which have to be presented to the authorities of another Member State, it provides for a system of (a) exemption from legalisation or similar formality, and (b) simplification of other formalities. The other formalities are the requirement to provide certified copies and translations of public documents (Article 3(5)). Article 1(2) adds a third element: multilingual standard forms, to be used as a translation aid attached to public documents concerning seven of the facts the Regulation covers (see below).
The second subparagraph of Article 1(1) is easy to overlook. Without prejudice to the first subparagraph, the Regulation shall not prevent a person from using other systems applicable in a Member State concerning legalisation or similar formality. The Regulation therefore offers a route; it does not remove the other routes that exist in a Member State.
Just as important is what the Regulation leaves alone. Under Article 2(4), it does not apply to the recognition in a Member State of legal effects relating to the content of public documents issued by the authorities of another Member State. Recital 18 explains that the Regulation does not aim to change the substantive law of the Member States on the matters it covers. Whether a marriage, an adoption or a change of name recorded in a document produces legal effects in the Member State where the document is presented is therefore a question the Regulation does not answer.
Under Article 27(2), the Regulation applies from 16 February 2019, with earlier dates for certain preparatory provisions (Article 24(2) from 16 February 2017; Article 12 and Article 24(3) from 16 February 2018; Article 22 and Article 24(1) from 16 August 2018). The Regulation is binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States (Article 27).
Which documents are covered: thirteen facts and election documents (Article 2(1) and 2(2))
Article 2(1) defines the scope by reference to the purpose of the document. The Regulation applies to public documents issued by the authorities of a Member State in accordance with its national law, which have to be presented to the authorities of another Member State and the primary purpose of which is to establish one or more of the following facts:
(a) birth; (b) a person being alive; (c) death; (d) name; (e) marriage, including capacity to marry and marital status; (f) divorce, legal separation or marriage annulment; (g) registered partnership, including capacity to enter into a registered partnership and registered partnership status; (h) dissolution of a registered partnership, legal separation or annulment of a registered partnership; (i) parenthood; (j) adoption; (k) domicile and/or residence; (l) nationality; and (m) absence of a criminal record.
Recital 12 adds that public documents on a change of name are also to be regarded as public documents whose primary purpose is to establish an individual's name. A person who has changed their name in one Member State and has to prove it in another can therefore rely on point (d).
Point (m) carries its own condition. Documents on the absence of a criminal record are covered provided that they are issued for a citizen of the Union by the authorities of that citizen's Member State of nationality (Article 2(1)(m)). A certificate issued for an Italian national by the authorities of another Member State, for example the one where the person lives, does not meet that condition.
Article 2(2) extends the scope to a further group. The Regulation also applies to public documents the presentation of which may be required of citizens of the Union residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals when those citizens wish to vote or stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament or in municipal elections in their Member State of residence, under the conditions laid down in Directive 93/109/EC and Council Directive 94/80/EC respectively.
The primary-purpose test sets the outer limit: mentioning a name or a date of birth does not bring a document within Article 2(1). Diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications, and public documents relating to the legal status and representation of a company or other undertaking, are not among the listed facts. Article 26(2) required the Commission to assess the appropriateness of extending the scope to those documents and to public documents attesting an officially recognised disability; that is a review clause, not an extension of the scope.
What counts as a public document (Article 3)
Article 3(1) gives the term public documents a broad meaning. It covers: (a) documents emanating from an authority or an official connected with the courts or tribunals of a Member State, including those emanating from a public prosecutor, a clerk of a court or a judicial officer (huissier de justice); (b) administrative documents; (c) notarial acts; (d) official certificates which are placed on documents signed by persons in their private capacity, such as official certificates recording the registration of a document or the fact that it was in existence on a certain date, and official and notarial authentications of signatures; and (e) documents drawn up by the diplomatic or consular agents of a Member State acting in the territory of any State in their official capacity, where such documents have to be presented in the territory of another Member State or to the diplomatic or consular agents of another Member State acting in the territory of a third State.
A notarial act or an official authentication of a signature is a public document under Article 3(1); it is covered by the Regulation when it also meets Article 2.
Recital 17 states that documents issued by private persons, given their different legal nature, are excluded from the scope. What point (d) of Article 3(1) brings in is the official certificate placed on such a document, for example the authentication of a signature, not the private document as such.
A certified copy means a copy of an original public document which is signed and attested to be an accurate and complete reproduction of that original by an authority empowered to do so under national law and of the same Member State that originally issued the public document (Article 3(7)). Recital 8 adds that the Regulation does not cover copies of certified copies.
Recital 10 explains one further exclusion: the Regulation does not apply to passports or identity cards issued in a Member State, as such documents are not subject to legalisation or similar formality when presented in another Member State.
No legalisation, no Apostille and certified copies (Articles 3(3), 3(4), 4 and 5)
The core rule is short. Under Article 4, public documents covered by the Regulation and their certified copies shall be exempt from all forms of legalisation and similar formality.
The two terms are defined. Legalisation means the formality for certifying the authenticity of a public office holder's signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which it bears (Article 3(3)). Similar formality means the addition of the certificate provided for by the Apostille Convention (Article 3(4)), that is, the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, to which, as recital 2 records, all Member States are contracting parties. For a document within the Regulation, the authority of the receiving Member State cannot require either step.
Recital 5 describes how this coexists with the Apostille Convention. Member States' authorities should not be able to require an apostille when a person presents to them a public document covered by the Regulation and issued in another Member State. At the same time, the Regulation should not prevent Member States from issuing an apostille where a person chooses to request it, and should not prevent a person from continuing to use in one Member State an apostille issued in another.
Article 5 simplifies the rules on copies in two ways. First, where a Member State requires the presentation of the original of a public document issued by the authorities of another Member State, the authorities of the Member State where the document is presented shall not also require the presentation of a certified copy of it (Article 5(1)). Second, where a Member State permits the presentation of a certified copy of a public document, its authorities shall accept a certified copy made in another Member State (Article 5(2)).
Article 5(2) applies where a Member State permits certified copies; it does not itself require a Member State to permit them. Under Article 4, the certified copy is itself exempt from legalisation and the Apostille.
Translations: when they cannot be required, and certified translations (Article 6)
Article 6(1) lists two situations in which a translation shall not be required.
(a) Language. The public document is in the official language of the Member State where the document is presented or, if that Member State has several official languages, in the official language or one of the official languages of the place where the document is presented, or in any other language that that Member State has expressly accepted. Each Member State had to communicate to the Commission the languages it accepts for this purpose (Article 24(1)(a)), and the Commission makes that information publicly available through the European e-Justice Portal (Article 24(5)).
(b) Multilingual standard form. A public document concerning one of the seven facts for which forms exist (birth, a person being alive, death, marriage, registered partnership, domicile and/or residence, absence of a criminal record) is accompanied, in accordance with the conditions set out in the Regulation, by a multilingual standard form, provided that the authority to which the public document is presented considers that the information included in the multilingual standard form is sufficient for processing the public document.
The proviso in point (b) gives the receiving authority a real discretion. Recital 24 states that a person who presents a public document accompanied by a multilingual standard form should not be required to produce a translation, but that the authority to which the document is presented should ultimately decide whether the information in the form is sufficient for the purpose of processing the document. Recital 25 adds that this authority may exceptionally require, where necessary for processing the document, a translation or a transliteration of the content of the multilingual standard form into the official language of its Member State or, if that Member State has several official languages, the official language or one of the official languages of the place where the document is presented, that language being also one of the official languages of the institutions of the Union.
Outside the two situations in Article 6(1), the Regulation does not exempt a document from translation. What it secures in every case is the portability of a certified translation: under Article 6(2), a certified translation carried out by a person qualified to do so under the law of a Member State shall be accepted in all Member States. Where Member States keep lists of persons qualified to carry out certified translations, they had to communicate them to the Commission (Article 24(1)(d)), and that information is also published on the European e-Justice Portal (Article 24(5)).
| Fact the document establishes (Art. 2) | Legalisation or Apostille (Art. 4) | Translation (Art. 6) | Multilingual standard form (Arts. 1(2), 7(1): documents on the Member State's list) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth; a person being alive; death | Exempt | Not required if in an accepted language, or with a form the authority finds sufficient; certified translation from any Member State accepted | Yes, on request |
| Marriage, incl. capacity to marry and marital status | Exempt | As above | Yes, on request |
| Registered partnership, incl. capacity and status | Exempt | As above | Yes, on request |
| Domicile and/or residence | Exempt | As above | Yes, on request |
| Absence of a criminal record (issued by the citizen's Member State of nationality) | Exempt | As above | Yes, on request |
| Name, incl. change of name (recital 12) | Exempt | Not required if in an accepted language; certified translation from any Member State accepted | No form under the Regulation |
| Divorce, legal separation, marriage annulment | Exempt | As for name | No form under the Regulation |
| Dissolution, legal separation or annulment of a registered partnership | Exempt | As for name | No form under the Regulation |
| Parenthood; adoption; nationality | Exempt | As for name | No form under the Regulation |
| Documents for European Parliament or municipal elections (Art. 2(2)) | Exempt | Art. 6(1)(a) and 6(2) apply | Not listed in Art. 7(1) as such |
| Document issued by a third country, or a Member State certified copy of it (Art. 2(3)) | Regulation does not apply | Regulation does not apply | Regulation does not apply |
Multilingual standard forms: which documents, how they are issued and what they are worth (Articles 7 to 12)
Which documents. Multilingual standard forms exist for seven of the thirteen facts in Article 2(1): birth, a person being alive, death, marriage (including capacity to marry and marital status), registered partnership (including capacity to enter into a registered partnership and registered partnership status), domicile and/or residence, and absence of a criminal record (Articles 1(2) and 7(1)). The Regulation does not establish forms for documents on name, divorce, legal separation or marriage annulment, dissolution of a registered partnership, parenthood, adoption or nationality.
On request. Under Article 7(1), the public documents concerning those seven facts which a Member State has communicated under Article 24(1)(c), that is, its list of public documents to which multilingual standard forms may be attached as a suitable translation aid, shall, upon request by the person entitled to receive the public document, be accompanied by a multilingual standard form. The person has to ask for it. The form is issued by an authority and bears its date of issue, the signature and, where applicable, the seal or stamp of the issuing authority (Article 7(2)).
A translation aid, not a certificate. The forms are attached to the public documents, are used as a translation aid and have no autonomous legal value (Article 8(1)). They do not constitute extracts from civil status records, verbatim copies of civil status records, multilingual extracts, multilingual and coded extracts, or multilingual and coded civil status certificates (Article 8(2)). Recital 26 adds that the forms should not produce legal effects as regards the recognition of their content in the Member States where they are presented. A form therefore travels with the document it accompanies; it does not replace it.
Use abroad. The multilingual standard forms may only be used in a Member State other than the Member State where they were issued (Article 8(3)).
Content and languages. Each form has a standard part, country-specific entry headings where applicable, and a glossary of the headings in all the official languages of the institutions of the Union (Article 9). The issuing authority fills in the form in the official language of its Member State or, if that Member State has several official languages, in the official language or one of the official languages of the place of issue (Article 10(1)). The standard part and the country-specific entry headings appear in two languages, each of which is also an official language of the institutions of the Union: the official language of the Member State (or place) where the form is issued, and the official language of the Member State (or place) where the public document is to be presented (Article 10(2)). The issuing authority therefore needs to know in which Member State the document will be used.
Fee and models. Under Article 11, Member States shall ensure that the fee for obtaining a multilingual standard form does not exceed the production cost of the form or of the public document to which the form is attached, whichever is lower. The Regulation sets a ceiling, not an amount. Under Article 12, the European e-Justice Portal contains, for each Member State, model multilingual standard forms relating to birth, a person being alive, death, marriage and, where applicable, registered partnership, domicile and/or residence and absence of a criminal record, in all the official languages of the institutions of the Union, including the standard parts and the country-specific entry headings communicated by that Member State.
When an authority doubts a document: the IMI procedure (Articles 13 to 16 and 20)
The exemption from legalisation does not leave the receiving authority without means of checking a document. Where the authorities of a Member State in which a public document or its certified copy is presented have a reasonable doubt as to its authenticity, they shall take two steps to dispel that doubt (Article 14(1)): (a) check the available models of documents in the repository of the Internal Market Information System (IMI); and (b) if a doubt remains, submit a request for information through IMI to the authority that issued the public document or, where applicable, to the authority that made the certified copy, or to both, or to the relevant central authority.
A reasonable doubt may relate, in particular, to the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document acted, the identity of the seal or stamp, or the document having been forged or tampered with (Article 14(2)). The request has to set out the grounds on which it is based (Article 14(3)) and be accompanied by a copy of the document, transmitted electronically through IMI; requests and replies shall not be subject to any tax, duty or charge (Article 14(4)).
Time limits. The requested authorities shall reply within the shortest possible period of time and in any case within a period not exceeding 5 working days, or 10 working days where the request is processed through a central authority (Article 14(5), first subparagraph). In exceptional cases where these time limits cannot be adhered to, the requested and the requesting authority shall agree upon an extension (Article 14(5), second subparagraph). These time limits concern the reply between authorities; the Regulation sets no time limit for the procedure in which the document is used.
If authenticity is not confirmed. Under Article 14(6), if the authenticity of the public document or of its certified copy is not confirmed, the requesting authority shall not be obliged to process it. Recital 39 adds that, in such cases and where no reply is received, the requesting authority or the person who presented the document should be free to use any available means to verify or to prove its authenticity.
Each Member State designates at least one central authority (Article 15(1)). Central authorities provide assistance in relation to requests for information and, in particular, transmit, receive and, where necessary, answer such requests and supply the necessary information (Article 16). The exchange of information and documents under the Regulation serves the sole purpose of verifying the authenticity of public documents by the competent authorities through IMI (Article 20(1)).
The Apostille Convention, other agreements and other EU rules (Articles 1(1), 17 and 19)
The Regulation was designed to sit alongside existing instruments. Recital 4 describes it as a separate and autonomous instrument from the Apostille Convention; the operative rule on other systems is the second subparagraph of Article 1(1), discussed above.
Article 19 sets out the relationship with international instruments. The Regulation is without prejudice to the application of international conventions to which one or more Member States are party at the time of its adoption and which concern matters covered by it (Article 19(1)). Notwithstanding that, the Regulation shall, in relation to matters to which it applies and to the extent provided for therein, prevail over other provisions contained in bilateral or multilateral agreements or arrangements concluded by the Member States in the relations between the Member States party to them (Article 19(2)). Article 19 is without prejudice to the second subparagraph of Article 1(1) (Article 19(3)). The Regulation also does not preclude Member States from negotiating, concluding, acceding to, amending or applying international agreements and arrangements with third countries concerning legalisation or similar formality in respect of public documents concerning matters covered by the Regulation, issued by the authorities of Member States or third countries in order to be used in relations between the Member States and the third countries concerned (Article 19(4)).
Within EU law, the Regulation is without prejudice to other provisions of Union law on legalisation, similar formality or other formalities, and is complementary to them (Article 17(1)).
Documents issued outside the EU: Turkish, UK, US and other third-country documents (Article 2(3))
Under Article 2(3), the Regulation does not apply to (a) public documents issued by the authorities of a third country, or (b) certified copies of such documents made by the authorities of a Member State. Recital 17 confirms that third-country public documents fall outside the scope including where they have already been accepted as authentic by the authorities of a Member State, and that the exclusion extends to certified copies made by Member State authorities of such documents.
Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States are not Member States of the European Union. A birth certificate, marriage certificate or criminal record certificate issued by their authorities is a third-country public document for the purposes of the Regulation. Its exemptions from legalisation and the Apostille, its rules on certified copies and translations and its multilingual standard forms do not apply to it. The same is true of a certified copy of such a document made by an authority in an EU country.
That does not mean that such a document cannot be used. It means that other rules decide what has to be done with it: the Apostille Convention, where both the issuing State and the receiving State are bound by it, bilateral agreements, and the national law of the receiving Member State. Under Article 19(4), the Regulation does not preclude Member States from concluding or applying agreements and arrangements with third countries concerning legalisation or similar formality in respect of public documents concerning matters covered by the Regulation, to be used in relations between the Member States and the third countries concerned. Before you obtain or certify a non-EU document for use in an EU country, check the requirement with the receiving authority and the issuing authority. Our general guide to apostille and document legalisation explains the two routes.
Practical steps before you move or present a document
1. Identify the fact and the issuer. Check that the primary purpose of your document is to establish one of the facts in Article 2(1), or that it is an election document within Article 2(2), and that it was issued by the authorities of a Member State. If it was issued by a third country, the Regulation does not apply (Article 2(3)).
2. Criminal record certificate? Ask the authorities of your Member State of nationality, as that is the condition of Article 2(1)(m).
3. Ask for the multilingual standard form when you order the document. For birth, a person being alive, death, marriage, registered partnership, domicile and/or residence and absence of a criminal record, the form is issued upon request by the person entitled to receive the document (Article 7(1)). Tell the issuing authority in which Member State you will present it (Article 10(2)).
4. Check the language rules of the receiving Member State. Information on the languages each Member State accepts, on the documents to which forms may be attached and, where they exist, on lists of certified translators is published on the European e-Justice Portal (Articles 6(1)(a), 24(1) and 24(5)). If a translation is needed, a certified translation by a person qualified under the law of any Member State has to be accepted in all Member States (Article 6(2)).
5. Original or certified copy? Where the receiving Member State requires the original, its authorities shall not also require a certified copy (Article 5(1)). Where it permits certified copies, its authorities shall accept one made in another Member State (Article 5(2)); under Article 3(7), the copy is made by an authority of the Member State that issued the original.
6. Asked for an apostille on a covered document? Point the authority to Article 4: covered public documents and their certified copies are exempt from all forms of legalisation and similar formality, and Article 3(4) defines the similar formality as the Apostille certificate. The Regulation does not prevent you from using other systems applicable in a Member State concerning legalisation or similar formality (Article 1(1), second subparagraph); if you also need the document outside the EU, the Regulation does not govern that use.
7. If the authority doubts authenticity. The authority follows the IMI procedure in Article 14. Keep contact details of the issuing authority, as recital 39 leaves you free to use any available means to prove authenticity if it is not confirmed.
8. Separate the document from its effect. The Regulation does not apply to the recognition of the legal effects of a document's content (Article 2(4)). If the question is whether your marriage, adoption, divorce or name will produce effects in the new country, the Regulation does not answer that question, and it calls for advice in that country. Brisamo helps you find a family lawyer in the relevant country.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an apostille on my birth certificate to use it in another EU country?
Not if the birth certificate was issued by the authorities of a Member State and is presented to the authorities of another Member State. Under Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1191, public documents covered by the Regulation and their certified copies are exempt from all forms of legalisation and similar formality, which Article 3(4) defines as the Apostille certificate.
Can I still obtain an apostille if I want one?
Yes. Under the second subparagraph of Article 1(1), the Regulation does not prevent a person from using other systems applicable in a Member State concerning legalisation or similar formality. Recital 5 states that the Regulation should not prevent Member States from issuing an apostille where a person chooses to request it.
Does the Regulation cover diplomas or company documents?
No. Diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications, and public documents relating to the legal status and representation of a company or other undertaking, are not among the facts listed in Article 2. Article 26(2) required the Commission to assess whether extending the scope to them would be appropriate; that review clause does not itself extend the scope.
I hold a Turkish, UK or US birth certificate. Does the Regulation help me in the EU?
No. The Regulation does not apply to public documents issued by the authorities of a third country, or to certified copies of them made by Member State authorities (Article 2(3)), even where a Member State authority has already accepted them as authentic (recital 17). Other rules, such as the Apostille Convention, bilateral agreements and the national law of the receiving Member State, may apply; check with the receiving authority.
Is the multilingual standard form a certificate I can use on its own?
No. The form is attached to the public document, is used as a translation aid and has no autonomous legal value (Article 8(1)). It may only be used in a Member State other than the one where it was issued (Article 8(3)).
Can an authority still ask for a translation if I attach a multilingual standard form?
Under Article 6(1)(b), a translation is not required where the form accompanies the document, provided that the authority considers the information in the form sufficient for processing the document. Recital 25 adds that the authority may exceptionally require a translation or transliteration of the form's content where necessary for processing the document.
My criminal record certificate comes from the country where I live, not from my country of nationality. Is it covered?
Point (m) of Article 2(1) covers documents on the absence of a criminal record provided that they are issued for a citizen of the Union by the authorities of that citizen's Member State of nationality. A certificate issued by another Member State does not meet that condition.
Does the Regulation mean that my marriage or name change must be recognised in my new country?
No. The Regulation does not apply to the recognition in a Member State of legal effects relating to the content of public documents issued by the authorities of another Member State (Article 2(4)); recital 18 states that it does not aim to change the substantive law of the Member States on those matters.
What happens if the authority doubts that my document is genuine?
If it has a reasonable doubt, it checks the models in the IMI repository and, if a doubt remains, sends a request for information through IMI to the authority that issued the document or, where applicable, the authority that made the certified copy, or to both, or to the relevant central authority (Article 14(1)(a) and (b)). Replies are due within the shortest possible period of time and in any case within 5 working days, or 10 where a central authority processes the request, with an agreed extension in exceptional cases (Article 14(5)); no tax, duty or charge applies (Article 14(4)). If authenticity is not confirmed, the authority is not obliged to process the document (Article 14(6)).
Since when does the Regulation apply?
It applies from 16 February 2019 (Article 27(2)), and it is binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
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