REGULATION (EU) 2016/1191 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL, OF 6 JULY 2016 HAS ENTERED INTO FORCE, LAST FEBRUARY, REGULATING THE EXEMPTION FROM LEGALISATION OR SIMILAR FORMALITY AND SIMPLIFYING OTHER FORMALITIES.

Here is a summary of the main parts of the Regulation which we welcome as one step forward towards EU members harmonization, common sense and simplification of formalities  .

This 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;

(m)        absence of a criminal record, provided that public documents concerning this fact are issued for a citizen of the Union by the authorities of that citizen’s Member State of nationality.

This 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 (11) respectively.

This Regulation does not apply to:

(a)          public documents issued by the authorities of a third country; or

(b)          certified copies of documents referred to in point (a) made by the authorities of a Member State.

(c)           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.

As regards translations, those shall not be required where:

(a)          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; or

(b)          a public document concerning 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, or absence of a criminal record, is accompanied, in accordance with the conditions set out in this 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.

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.

Presentation