About the judgment:
On the 4th of October 2024, the CJEU delivered its judgment in the Mirin case. The case concerns a Romanian national who had transitioned gender and legally changed his gender identity in the United Kingdom. Upon return to Romania, the Romanian authorities refused to reflect this change in his birth certificate, requiring a judicial decision from a Romanian court in order to change the birth certificate.
In the judgment, the CJEU considered that this refusal to recognize a change in gender identity unless recognized by a domestic court was a restriction to the EU’s citizen right to move and reside freely, enshrined in Article 21 TFEU. When considering if that restriction could be justified, the Court of Justice regarded the impact of the Romanian legislation on Article 8 ECHR on the right to private life and referred to the case law of the ECHR, which already condemned the Romanian legislation in 2021.
The judgment is an interesting example of free movement rights upholding other rights of EU citizens, such as the right to change gender and to have that change registered. It is especially interesting as it touches upon gender identity change procedures which vary significantly between Member States.