From recognition to positive obligations: the ECJ’s judgment in Shipov (C-43/24)

By Marzia Genovese, Postdoctoral Lecturer and Researcher in Public Law at the European Documentation and Research Centre of the University of Pau (France).Photo: Bulgaria Palace of Justice; photo credit Bim in Garten via Wikimedia Commons I. Introduction In K.M.H. v Obshtina Stara Zagora (Shipov, C-43/24), the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) held that Article 21 TFEU and Article 4(3) of Directive 2004/38, read in the light of Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, preclude national legislation that does not permit a transgender Union citizen to amend certain data recorded in civil-status registers. The judgment builds upon the Court’s recent decision in Mirin and forms part of a broader line of case law concerning the relationship between free movement rights, personal status and gender identity. The decision will likely be welcomed as a further step in the protection of transgender Union citizens exercising their free movement…