Convention (No.16) on the issue of multilingual extracts
from civil status records
signed at Vienna on 8 September 1976
The signatory States to this Convention, being desirous of improving the rules on the issue of multilingual extracts from certain civil status records, particularly where they are to be used abroad, have agreed as follows:
Article 1
At the request of an interested party or when their use necessitates a translation, extracts from civil status records concerning births, marriages or deaths shall be prepared in conformity with forms A, B and C appended to this Convention.
In each Contracting State, such extracts shall be issued only to those persons who are entitled to obtain verbatim copies.
Article 2
Extracts shall be prepared on the basis of the original particulars and subsequent annotations appearing in the records.
Article 3
Each Contracting State shall have the option of supplementing the forms appended to this Convention with spaces and symbols showing other particulars or annotations in the record, provided that the wording used has received the prior approval of the General Assembly of the International Commission on Civil Status.
However, each Contracting State shall have the option of adding a space for the insertion of an identity number.
Article 4
All the entries to be made on the forms shall be written in Latin characters in detached script; they may also be written in the characters of the language used in drawing up the record to which they refer.
Article 5
Dates shall be written in Arabic numerals, denoting successively, under the symbols Jo, Mo and An, the day, month and year. The day and the month shall be indicated by two figures, and the year by four figures. The first nine days of the month and first months of the year shall be indicated by numbers running from 01 to 09.
The name of any place mentioned in an extract shall be followed by the name of the State in which that place is situated, whenever that State is not the State in which the extract is issued.
An identity number shall be preceded by the name of the State which assigned it.
To indicate sex, only the following symbols shall be used: M = male, F = female.
To indicate marriage, legal separation, divorce, annulment of marriage, death of the person to whom the record of birth relates, and death of a husband or wife, only the following symbols shall be used: Mar = marriage; Sc = legal separation; Div = divorce; A = annulment; D = death; Dm = death of husband; Df = death of wife. These symbols shall be followed by the date and place of the event. The symbol "Mar" shall also be followed by the name and forenames of the spouse.
Article 6
With the exception of the symbols for dates specified in Article 5, the standard forms of words on the front of each extract shall be printed in at least two languages, including the official language or one of the official languages of the State in which the extract is being issued and the French language.
The meaning of the symbols must be indicated therein at least in the official language or one of the official languages of each of the States which, at the time of signature of this Convention, are members of the International Commission on Civil Status or are bound by the Paris Convention of 27 September 1956 on the issue of certain extracts from civil status records for use abroad, and in the English language.
On the reverse of each extract there shall appear:
- a reference to the Convention, in the languages indicated in the second paragraph of this Article;
- a translation of the standard forms of words, in the languages indicated in the second paragraph of this Article, in so far as those languages have not been used on the front;
- a summary of Articles 3, 4, 5 and 7 of the Convention, at least in the language of the authority issuing the extract.
- a reference to the Convention, in the languages indicated in the second paragraph of this Article;
- a translation of the standard forms of words, in the languages indicated in the second paragraph of this Article, in so far as those languages have not been used on the front;
- a summary of Articles 3, 4, 5 and 7 of the Convention, at least in the language of the authority issuing the extract.
Each State acceding to this Convention shall, when depositing its instrument of accession, send to the Swiss Federal Council a translation in its official language or languages of the standard forms of words and of the meaning of the symbols.
The translation shall be transmitted by the Swiss Federal Council to the Contracting States and to the Secretary General of the International Commission on Civil Status.
Each Contracting State shall have the option of incorporating the translation in the extracts issued by its authorities.
Article 7
If a space or part of a space in the extract cannot be filled in from details appearing in the record, that space or part of a space shall be scored through.
Article 8
Extracts shall bear their date of issue, as well as the signature and seal of the issuing authority. They shall have the same 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 or equivalent formality in the territory of each of the States bound by this Convention.
Article 9
Without prejudice to the international agreements on the issue of copies of or extracts from civil status records free of charge, the charges payable for extracts issued pursuant to this Convention may not be higher than those payable for extracts prepared pursuant to the domestic legislation in force in the State from which they emanate.
Article 10
This Convention shall not prevent the obtainment of verbatim copies of civil status records, prepared in accordance with the rules of domestic law of the country in which those records were drawn up or transcribed.
Article 11
Each Contracting State may, at the time of signature, of the notification mentioned in Article 12 or of accession, declare that it reserves the option not to apply this Convention to extracts from records relating to the birth of adopted children.
Article 12
The Contracting States shall notify the Swiss Federal Council of the completion of the procedures required by their Constitutions to render this Convention applicable in their territory.
The Swiss Federal Council shall inform the Contracting States and the Secretary General of the International Commission on Civil Status of any notification made pursuant to the preceding paragraph.
Article 13
This Convention shall enter into force from the thirtieth day following the date of deposit of the fifth notification and shall take effect from that day between the five States which have completed that formality.
For each Contracting State which completes the formality mentioned in the preceding Article at a later date, this Convention shall take effect from the thirtieth day following the date of deposit of its notification.
On the entry into force of this Convention, the depositary Government shall transmit the text thereof to the Secretariat of the United Nations for registration and publication, in accordance with Article 102 of the United Nations Charter.
Article 14
The Convention on the issue of certain extracts from civil status records for use abroad, signed at Paris on 27 September 1956, shall cease to apply between those States for which this Convention has entered into force.
Article 15
The reservation mentioned in Article 11 may be wholly or partially withdrawn at any time. The Swiss Federal Council shall be notified of any such withdrawal.
The Swiss Federal Council shall inform the Contracting States and the Secretary General of the International Commission on Civil Status of any notification made pursuant to the preceding paragraph.
Article 16
This Convention shall apply ipso iure throughout the metropolitan territory of each Contracting State.
Any State may, at the time of signature, notification or accession or subsequently, 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 inform each of the Contracting States and the Secretary General of the International Commission on Civil Status of the last-mentioned notification. 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 inform each of the Contracting States and the Secretary General of the International Commission on Civil Status of the further notification.
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 17
Any State may accede to this Convention after it has entered into force. The instrument of accession shall be deposited with the Swiss Federal Council. The latter shall inform each of the Contracting States and the Secretary General of the International Commission on Civil Status of every deposit of an instrument of accession. The Convention shall enter into force, for the acceding State, on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit of the instrument of accession.
Article 18
This Convention shall remain in force indefinitely. However, each Contracting State shall have the option of denouncing it at any time by written notification to 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.
The option to denounce may not be exercised by a State before the expiry of a period of one year from the date on which the Convention entered into force for that State.
Denunciation shall take effect six months after the date on which the Swiss Federal Council receives the notification mentioned in the first paragraph of this Article.
In witness whereof the undersigned representatives, duly authorised to this end, have signed this Convention.
Done at Vienna, on 8 September 1976, 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 and to the Secretary General of the International Commission on Civil Status.
Territorial scope of the Convention
At the time of notification of ratification of the Convention, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Bern stated that the Convention is applicable to the Kingdom in Europe.
Declaration of reservation
At the time of signature of the Convention, the Swiss Confederation declared, pursuant to Article 11, that it reserved the option not to apply this Convention to extracts from records relating to the birth of adopted children whose original filiation subsists.
Editorial note
On 20 June 1990, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia notified the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the ratification of the Convention (in force for Yugoslavia as from 20 July 1990).
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.
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 deposited a declaration of treaty successor, of which Switzerland is the depository, and to which Montenegro was a party on 3rd June 2006. Convention No. 16 entered into force for the Republic of Montenegro on 3rd June 2006, on the date of its independence.
On 17 September 2015, the Republic of Cabo Verde deposited with the Swiss Federal Council an instrument of accession to the Convention (in force for the Republic of Cabo Verde since October 2015).
English version certified by the General Assembly on 22 September 2022. Only the French original is authentic.