CJEU Case C-4/23 / Judgment

M.-A.A. v Direcţia de Evidenţă a Persoanelor Cluj and Others
Deciding body type
Court of Justice of the European Union
Type
Decision
Decision date
04/10/2024
ECLI (European case law identifier)
ECLI:EU:C:2024:845
  • CJEU Case C-4/23 / Judgment

    Key facts of the case: 

    Reference for a preliminary ruling – Citizenship of the Union – Articles 20 and 21 TFEU – Articles 7 and 45 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States – Union citizen who has lawfully acquired, during the exercise of that right and his residence in another Member State, a change of his first name and gender identity – Obligation on the part of that Member State to recognise and enter in the birth certificate that change of first name and gender identity – National legislation which does not permit such recognition and entry, obliging the party concerned to bring new judicial proceedings for a change of gender identity in the Member State of origin – Effect of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union

    Outcome of the case: 

    On those grounds, the Court (Grand Chamber) hereby rules:


    Article 20 and Article 21(1) TFEU, read in the light of Articles 7 and 45 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State that does not permit recognition and entry in the birth certificate of a national of that Member State of a change of first name and gender identity lawfully acquired in another Member State, when exercising the right to free movement and residence, with the consequence that that person is obliged to initiate, before a court, new proceedings for a change of gender identity in the first Member State, which disregard the change that was previously lawfully acquired in that other Member State.


    In that regard, it is irrelevant that the request for recognition and entry of the change of first name and gender identity was made in that first Member State on a date on which the withdrawal from the European Union of the other Member State had already taken effect.

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter (original language)

    47) By its questions, which it is appropriate to examine together, the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 20 and Article 21(1) TFEU, read in the light of Articles 7 and 45 of the Charter, must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State which does not permit recognition and entry in the birth certificate of a national of that Member State of a change of first name and gender identity lawfully acquired in another Member State when exercising his or her freedom of movement and residence, with the result that he or she is obliged to bring new judicial proceedings for a change of gender identity in the first Member State, which disregard that change already lawfully acquired in that other Member State.

    ...

    58) Such a restriction must also be found to exist as regards the right enshrined in Article 45(1) of the Charter. That right corresponds to that guaranteed in Article 20(2)(a) TFEU, and is to be exercised, under the second subparagraph of Article 20(2) TFEU and Article 52(2) of the Charter, in accordance with the conditions and the limits defined by the Treaties and by the measures adopted thereunder. Therefore, any restriction on the rights provided for in Article 21(1) TFEU necessarily infringes Article 45(1) of the Charter, since the right of every citizen of the Union to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, provided for in the Charter, reflects the right conferred by Article 21(1) TFEU (see, to that effect, judgment of 22 February 2024, Direcția pentru Evidența Persoanelor și Administrarea Bazelor de Date, C‑491/21, EU:C:2024:143, paragraphs 49 and 50).

    ...

    62)  Moreover, even if that national legislation pursues a legitimate objective, it can, in any event, be regarded as justified only where it is consistent with the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Charter, it being the task of the Court to ensure that those rights are respected (judgment of 14 December 2021, Stolichna obshtina, rayon Pancharevo, C‑490/20, EU:C:2021:1008, paragraph 58 and the case-law cited), and, in particular, with the right to respect for private life referred to in Article 7 of the Charter.

    63) In that regard, as is apparent from the Explanations relating to the Charter of Fundamental Rights (OJ 2007 C 303, p. 17), in accordance with Article 52(3) of the Charter, the rights guaranteed in Article 7 thereof have the same meaning and the same scope as those guaranteed in Article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed in Rome on 4 November 1950 (‘the ECHR’) (judgment of 14 December 2021, Stolichna obshtina, rayon Pancharevo, C‑490/20, EU:C:2021:1008, paragraph 60), the latter provision constituting a minimum threshold of protection (see, by analogy, judgment of 29 July 2024, Alchaster, C‑202/24, EU:C:2024:649, paragraph 92 and the case-law cited).

    64) According to the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, Article 8 ECHR protects a person’s sexual identity as a constituent element and one of the most intimate aspects of his or her private life. Thus, that provision encompasses the right to establish details of their identity as individual human beings, which includes the right of transsexual people to personal development and physical and moral integrity and to respect for and recognition of their sexual identity (ECtHR, 11 July 2002, Christine Goodwin v. the United Kingdom, CE:ECHR:2002:0711JUD002895795, §§ 77, 78 and 90; ECtHR, 12 June 2003, Van Kück v. Germany, CE:ECHR:2003:0612JUD003596897, §§ 69 to 75 and 82; and ECtHR, 19 January 2021, X and Y v. Romania, CE:ECHR:2021:0119JUD000214516, §§ 147 and 165).

    65) To that end, Article 8 imposes positive obligations on States, in addition to negative obligations to protect transsexual persons against arbitrary interference by public authorities, which also entails the establishment of effective and accessible procedures guaranteeing effective respect for their right to sexual identity. Furthermore, in view of the particular importance of that right, States have only limited discretion in this area (ECtHR, 19 January 2021, X and Y v. Romania, CE:ECHR:2021:0119JUD000214516, §§ 146 to 148 and the case-law cited, and ECtHR, 1 December 2022, A.D. and Others v. Georgia, CE:ECHR:2022:1201JUD005786417, § 71).

    66) It thus follows from the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights that, under Article 8, States are required to provide for a clear and foreseeable procedure for legal recognition of gender identity which allows for a change of sex and thus of name and digital personal code, on official documents, in a quick, transparent and accessible manner (ECtHR, 19 January 2021, X and Y v. Romania, CE:ECHR:2021:0119JUD000214516, § 168).

    67) The European Court of Human Rights held, in its judgment of 19 January 2021, X and Y v. Romania (CE:ECHR:2021:0119JUD000214516, §§ 157 and 168), that the procedure laid down by the national legislation at issue in the main proceedings must be regarded as incompatible with Article 8 ECHR, in so far as that procedure does not satisfy the requirements imposed by that provision for the examination of a request for a change of gender identity made for the first time before a national court.

    68) Nor can that procedure constitute an effective means of enabling a Union citizen who, while residing in another Member State and, therefore, when exercising the right guaranteed in Article 21 TFEU and Article 45 of the Charter, has already lawfully acquired the change of his or her first name and gender identity pursuant to the procedures laid down for that purpose in that Member State, effectively to assert his or her rights conferred by those articles, read in the light of Article 7 of the Charter, especially since that procedure exposes that citizen to the risk that it may lead to an outcome contrary to the outcome before the authorities of the Member State which lawfully granted that change of first name and gender identity.

    ...


    71) In the light of all the foregoing considerations, the answer to the questions referred is that Article 20 and Article 21(1) TFEU, read in the light of Articles 7 and 45 of the Charter, must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State that does not permit recognition and entry in the birth certificate of a national of that Member State of a change of first name and gender identity lawfully acquired in another Member State, when exercising the right to free movement and residence, with the consequence that that person is obliged to initiate, before a court, new proceedings for a change of gender identity in the first Member State, which disregard the change that was previously lawfully acquired in that other Member State. In that regard, it is irrelevant that the request for recognition and entry of the change of first name and gender identity was made in that first Member State on a date on which the withdrawal from the European Union of the other Member State had already taken effect.