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International Commission on Civil Status

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International Commission on Civil Status
AbbreviationICCS, CIEC
FormationSeptember 1948 (provisional)
December 1949 (official)
TypeIntergovernmental organization
PurposePromote international cooperation in civil status matters and improve the functioning of national civil status services
HeadquartersSecretariat General
Location
Membership
6 members (5 member states and the Francophone Notary Association)
7 observer states
Official language
French
President
İbrahim Taşyapan
Secretary General
Nicolas Nord
Main organ
General Assembly
Websiteciec1.org

The International Commission on Civil Status, or ICCS (French: Commission internationale de l'état civil, or CIEC), is an intergovernmental organisation whose aim is to promote international cooperation in civil status matters and to improve the functioning of national civil status services.[1] It was provisionally founded in September 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and officially recognised by an exchange of letters in December 1949 and two protocols in 1950 and 1952.[2] The organisation is seated in Strasbourg, France,[3] and its official language is French.

Purpose

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Founded after World War II in the context of millions of refugees, missing and displaced people, the organisation's aim was to facilitate the cooperation between states in establishing, recognising and validating civil status documents, also known as vital records, such as birth, marriage and death certificates. It did so by drafting international treaties such as the Convention on the issue of multilingual extracts from civil status records, which provides standard multilingual formats of vital records, allowing their international acceptance without the need for translation or legalisation. Later conventions drafted by the ICCS include the Convention on the recognition of decisions recording a sex reassignment.

Members

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Current and former member states and observer states of the ICCS

The ICCS was created by five founding member states in 1948. In 1952, a protocol opened the organisation to accession by any state.[2] By 1999, 11 more states had acceded to the ICCS, reaching a peak of 16 member states. After 2007, only one more state acceded and 12 states left the organisation, resulting in only five member states by 2022.[4] In 2024, the Francophone Notary Association, representing 28 states,[a] joined the organisation as a non-state member.[1]

Member state Ratification Start of membership Renunciation End of membership
 Austria 14 September 1961 14 October 1961 8 October 2007 8 April 2008
 Belgium 25 September 1950 1 October 1950
 Croatia 25 March 1999 24 April 1999 21 July 2014 21 January 2015
 France 25 September 1950 1 October 1950 17 May 2019 17 November 2019
 Germany 27 September 1956 27 October 1956 31 December 2014 30 June 2015
 Greece 3 September 1959 3 October 1959 30 June 2021 30 December 2021
 Hungary 15 September 1999 15 October 1999 6 June 2012 6 December 2012
 Italy 4 September 1958 4 October 1958 2 April 2014 2 October 2014
 Luxembourg 25 September 1950 1 October 1950
 Mexico 15 September 2010 15 October 2010 15 June 2017 15 December 2017
 Netherlands 25 September 1950 1 October 1950 15 November 2017 15 May 2018
 Poland 9 September 1998 9 October 1998 14 June 2017 14 December 2017
 Portugal 13 September 1973 13 October 1973 10 July 2014 10 January 2015
 Spain 13 September 1974 13 October 1974
  Switzerland 25 September 1950 1 October 1950
 Turkey 24 September 1953 23 December 1953
 United Kingdom 11 September 1996 11 October 1996 22 August 2013 22 February 2014

Several states are observers of the organisation:[1]

See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Presentation of the ICCS". International Commission on Civil Status.
  2. ^ a b "History of the ICCS". International Commission on Civil Status.
  3. ^ "ICCS contact information". International Commission on Civil Status.
  4. ^ "Protocol relating to the International Commission on Civil Status". Treaty Database of the Netherlands.
  5. ^ "Association du notariat francophone" [Francophone Notary Association] (in French). Francophone Notary Association.
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