Information provided by the European Commission and by Member States regarding the content 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 (Article 21)

Common text

Information regarding the circulation of certain public documents between Member States

Under the Regulation, which promotes the free movement of citizens, starting February 16, 2019, certain public documents and their certified copies are exempt from the requirement of legalisation and apostille formalities for use in European Union Member States.

Thus, for these documents, you may request a multilingual standard form, to avoid the need for translation and apostille. The exemption from the requirement of legalisation and apostille formalities applies only to documents and their certified copies issued by the public authorities of a Member State and presented to the public authorities of another Member State. The documents are as follows:

- documents issued by a court or by a court official;

- administrative documents;

- notarial acts;

- official certificates attached to private documents;

- diplomatic and consular documents.

In addition, the exemption applies exclusively to documents establishing one or more of the following elements:

- birth;

- death;

- the fact that a person is alive;

- name;

- marriage, including capacity to marry and marital status;

- divorce, legal separation, or marriage annulment;

- registered partnership, the capacity to enter into a registered partnership, and status of registered partnership;

- dissolution of a registered partnership, legal separation, or annulment of a registered partnership;

- parentage or adoption;

- domicile and/or residence;

- citizenship;

- absence of a criminal record;

- the status of candidate or participation in elections to the European Parliament or in local elections in another Member State.

Highlighted items indicate the existence of a multilingual standard form for these documents. Please note that not all standard forms are issued in all Member States.

The multilingual standard form can be used only in another Member State and must be presented together with the official document it accompanies.

When a Member State allows for the presentation of a certified copy of a public document instead of the original, the authorities of the respective Member State must accept a certified copy prepared in the Member State in which the document was issued.

Applications are submitted at the Civil Status Service located at 20 Mihai Eminescu Street, phone 0241485157. There is no fee for issuing the multilingual standard form.