EU court says bans on changing gender information in national law violate EU rules

Brussels, Belgium. The European Union’s top court ruled that national legislation barring changes to gender information was incompatible with EU law, citing difficulties when lived gender identity does not match official documents.

Case involving a Bulgarian citizen living in Italy

The case concerned a Bulgarian citizen registered male at birth who has begun hormone treatment and identifies as a woman.

She moved to Italy and asked Bulgarian authorities to change her legal gender, name and identification number.

National courts cited biological definition of sex

Bulgarian courts denied the request, pointing to national rules that define sex strictly in biological terms and ban changes to gender information.

Court links document mismatch to free movement

The European Court of Justice said member states were responsible for issuing identity documents.

However, it found that a mismatch between a person’s gender identity and their identity documents can prompt doubts during routine checks, travel or professional interactions, causing “considerable inconveniences” that hinder the right to free movement.

How could this ruling affect the handling of identity document requests in EU member states?