Romania - October 2024

On 4 October, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Romania violated the rights of a British-Romanian citizen, particularly the principles of non-discrimination and freedom of movement, as it failed to recognize a change to their legal gender effected in the United Kingdom in 2020. Romanian authorities refused to issue new identity documents reflecting this change, instead referring the citizen to a Bucharest Court to initiate a new legal process. The ECJ determined that requiring a new procedure in another EU member state to change the gender identity was unjustified. This ruling establishes an important precedent for the mutual recognition of legal gender recognition across the EU, and it highlights the importance of legal gender recognition to transgender individuals’ ability to travel, work, or vote freely across the EU. 

Sources: Euronews, ILGA-Europe, InfoCuria, RFE/RL, Court of Justice of the European Union