6.12.2008
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 313/3
Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 14 October 2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Amtsgericht Flensburg, Germany) — Proceedings brought by Stefan Grunkin, Dorothee Regina Paul
(Case C-353/06) (1)
(Right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States - Private international law relating to surnames - Applicable law determined by nationality alone - Minor child born and resident in one Member State with the nationality of another Member State - Non-recognition in the Member State of which he is a national of the surname acquired in the Member State of birth and residence)
(2008/C 313/04)
Language of the case: German
Referring court
Amtsgericht Flensburg
Parties to the main proceedings
Stefan Grunkin, Dorothee Regina Paul
Other parties: Leonhard Matthias Grunkin-Paul, Standesamt Niebüll,
Re:
Reference for a preliminary ruling — Amtsgericht Flensburg (Germany) — Interpretation of Articles 12 and 18 of the EC Treaty — National rule on conflict of laws connecting the law governing the determination of a person's surname to nationality alone — Refusal by the Member State of which he is a national to recognise the surname of a child, made up of the respective surnames of his parents, where the child was born and is resident in another Member State in which he has been registered under that double-barrelled name
Operative part of the judgment
In circumstances such as those of the case in the main proceedings, Article 18 EC precludes the authorities of a Member State, in applying national law, from refusing to recognise a child's surname, as determined and registered in a second Member State in which the child — who, like his parents, has only the nationality of the first Member State — was born and has been resident since birth.
(1) OJ C 281, 18.11.2006.
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy