The EU Public Documents Regulation 2016/1191 came into effect on 16 February 2019 and applies to all EU member states. It seeks to promote the free movement of EU citizens by simplifying the requirements for presenting certain public documents in the EU. It provides that certain listed certificates no longer need to be authenticated by legalisation or apostille and need not be translated if a multilingual standard form is provided to the certificate. All member state public authorities must accept the legal effect of the certificates. This applies to certificates of birth, marriage, death, civil or registered partnership, divorce, dissolution, adoption, residence/domicile, nationality and criminal record checks from Member States. For more details see here. It does not apply to other certificates such as grants of probate, company certificates or registered partnerships nor to certificates issued by third countries.
