The EU Regulation on Public Documents

Abstract

The EU Regulation on Public Documents, which has been applicable in the EU Member States since 16 February 2019, seems as yet to be relatively unknown in practice. This is despite the fact that the new rules provided for by the Regulation are designed to facilitate the cross-border circulation of public documents, and in so doing also make the free movement of people within European Union borders considerably easier. As a result, an Apostille is no longer necessary for certain public documents, especially those relating to the area of civil status, as the Regulation means such documents must be recognised as genuine in other Member States without the need for an Apostille. A further benefit is that the need for a translation falls by the wayside too in most cases. Certain public documents may have multilingual forms attached to them to provide a translation guide. As a result, such public documents can be presented directly to the authorities of other EU Member States. This heralds the first steps towards the abolition of the Apostille within EU borders.