ICCS Convention No.1

Convention (No.1) on the issue of certain extracts from civil-status records for use abroad

signed at Paris on 27 September 1956

The Governments of the Kingdom of Belgium, the French Republic, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Swiss Confederation and the Turkish Republic, members of the International Commission on Civil Status, being desirous of establishing common provisions on the issue of certain extracts from civil status records for use abroad, have decided to conclude a Convention to that end and have agreed as follows:

Article 1

Extracts from civil status records concerning births, marriages or deaths may, when their use in the country where they are required necessitates a translation, be drawn up in accordance with Article 4 below and with forms A, B and C appended to this Convention.

Such extracts shall be issued only to persons who are entitled to obtain verbatim copies of the record in question under the domestic law of the country where it was made or transcribed.

For the purposes of this Convention, marginal annotations form an integral part of civil status records.

Article 2

On each form the standard headings, printed in advance, shall appear in seven languages: French, German, English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Turkish.

All the forms shall carry a statement to the effect that the extract is issued pursuant to this Convention.

Article 3

Each extract shall bear the signature and seal of the issuing authority and the date of issue. The information to be furnished shall be entered in the appropriate space on the form, with the words in Latin characters and the dates in Arabic numerals; the months shall be indicated by an Arabic numeral corresponding to their place within the year. If one of the spaces on the form cannot be filled in from the particulars on the civil status record, it shall be scored through. Only the following symbols shall be used :

- to indicate sex:

M = male
F = female.

- to indicate termination or annulment of marriage:

Dm = death of the husband
Df = death of the wife
Div = divorce
A = annulment.

These last symbols shall be followed by the date of termination or annulment.

Article 4

An extract from a record of birth shall indicate (Form A):

a. the place of birth
b. the date of birth
c. the sex of the child
d. the surname of the child
e. the forenames of the child
f. the surname of the father
g. the forenames of the father
h. the maiden name of the mother
i. the forenames of the mother.

An extract from a record of marriage shall indicate (Form B):

a. the place of the marriage
b. the date of the marriage
c. the surname of the husband
d. the forenames of the husband
e. the date of birth or, failing that, the age of the husband
f. the place of birth of the husband
g. the surname of the wife
h. the forenames of the wife
i. the date of birth or, failing that, the age of the wife
j. the place of birth of the wife
k. any marginal annotations concerning termination or annulment of the marriage.

An extract from a record of death shall indicate (Form C):

a. the place of death
b. the date of death
c. the surname of the deceased
d. the forenames of the deceased
e. the sex of the deceased
f. the date of birth or, failing that, the age of the deceased
g. the place of birth of the deceased
h. the last residence of the deceased
i. the surname and forenames of the last spouse of the deceased
j. the surname and forenames of the father of the deceased
k. the surname and forenames of the mother of the deceased.

Each Contracting State may also supplement the standard forms with additional spaces for other particulars in the civil status record, provided that the wording used has received the prior approval of the International Commission on Civil Status.

Article 5

Extracts issued under the conditions laid down in the preceding Articles shall have the same evidential value as extracts issued in accordance with the rules of domestic law in force in the State from which they emanate.

They shall be accepted without legalisation in the territory of each of the Contracting States.

Article 6

Without prejudice to the international agreements on the issue of civil status certificates free of charge, the same charges shall be payable for extracts issued pursuant to this Convention as for extracts made pursuant to the domestic legislation in force in the State from which the extracts emanate.

Article 7

This Convention shall not prevent the obtainment of verbatim copies of civil status records, made in accordance with the legislation of the country where such records were made or transcribed.

Article 8

This Convention shall be ratified and the instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Swiss Federal Council.

A record shall be made of every deposit of an instrument of ratification and a certified copy of that record shall be sent through diplomatic channels to each of the signatory States.

Article 9

This Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit of the second instrument of ratification as mentioned in the preceding Article.

For each signatory State ratifying the Convention at a later date, the Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit of its instrument of ratification.

Article 10

This Convention shall apply ipso iure throughout the metropolitan territory of each Contracting State.

Any State may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession or at any later date, declare by notification to the Swiss Federal Council that the provisions of this Convention shall apply to one or more of its extra-metropolitan territories or the States or territories for whose international relations it is responsible.

The Swiss Federal Council shall send a certified copy of the notification through diplomatic channels to each of the Contracting States. The provisions of this Convention shall become applicable in the territory or territories designated in the notification on the sixtieth day following the date on which the Swiss Federal Council receives the notification.

Any State which has made a declaration pursuant to the provisions of the second paragraph of this Article may subsequently declare at any time by notification to the Swiss Federal Council that this Convention shall cease to apply to one or more of the States or territories designated in the declaration.

The Swiss Federal Council shall send a certified copy of the further notification through diplomatic channels to each of the Contracting States. The Convention shall cease to apply to the territory concerned on the sixtieth day following the date on which the Swiss Federal Council receives that notification.

Article 11

Any State may accede to this Convention. A State wishing to accede shall give notice of its intention by an instrument deposited with the Swiss Federal Council. The latter shall send a certified copy thereof through diplomatic channels to each of the Contracting States. The Convention shall enter into force, for the acceding State, on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit of the instrument of accession.

Deposit of an instrument of accession may take place only after the entry into force of this Convention pursuant to the first paragraph of Article 9.

Article 12

This Convention may be revised for the purpose of incorporating amendments designed to improve it.

Any proposal for a revision shall be lodged with the Swiss Federal Council, which shall give notice thereof to the other Contracting States and the Secretary General of the International Commission on Civil Status.

Article 13

This Convention shall remain in force for a term of ten years from the date indicated in the first paragraph of Article 9.

The Convention shall be tacitly renewed every ten years, unless it is denounced.

The Swiss Federal Council must be notified of any denunciation at least six months before the expiry of a term; the Council shall inform all the other Contracting States of such denunciation.

Denunciation shall have effect only in relation to the State which has given the notification. The Convention shall remain in force for the other Contracting States.

In witness whereof the undersigned representatives, duly authorised to this end, have signed this Convention.

Done at Paris, on 27 September 1956, in a single copy which shall be deposited in the archives of the Swiss Federal Council and a certified copy of which shall be transmitted through diplomatic channels to each of the Contracting States.

Territorial scope of the Convention

At the time of signature of the Convention, the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands made the following declaration : Having regard to the equality that exists from the public-law perspective between the Netherlands, Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles, the terms "metropolitan" and "extra-metropolitan" mentioned in the Convention cannot be given their initial meaning as far as the Kingdom of the Netherlands is concerned; they will therefore be considered, as far as the Kingdom is concerned, as signifying "European" and "non-European" respectively.

At the time of its accession to the Convention, the Federal Republic of Germany declared that the Convention is also applicable to the Land of Berlin with effect from the day on which it will enter into force for the Federal Republic of Germany.

Editorial note

On 8 June 1967, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia deposited with the Government of the Swiss Confederation an instrument of accession to the Convention (in force for Yugoslavia as from 8 July 1967).
After the partition of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia deposited with the Swiss Federal Council, on 16 October 2001, a declaration of succession regarding the Convention. On 17 April 1992, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia became party to the Convention retroactively.

On 1 December 1992, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia deposited with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs an instrument of accession to the Convention (in force for Slovenia as from 31 December 1992).

On 22 September 1993, the Republic of Croatia deposited with the Swiss Federal Council an instrument of accession to the Convention (in force for Croatia as from 22 October 1993).

On 15 April 1994, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, deposited with the Swiss Federal Council a declaration of succession regarding the Convention. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia became party to the Convention on 8 September 1991, the date of its independence.

On 11 October 1995, the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina deposited with the Swiss Federal Council a declaration of succession regarding the Convention. The Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina became party to the Convention on 6 March 1992, the date of its independence.

On 26 March 2007, the Republic of Montenegro made a declaration of successor for the treaties deposited near Switzerland and to which Serbia and Montenegro was a party as at 3 June 2006; the Convention No. 1 came into effect for the Republic of Montenegro on 3 June 2006, date of its independence.

Only the French original is authentic.