Written by: Anastasios Moussas
ICS Founder & Legal Consultant
The procedures regulating the declaration of acts of civil status have changed upon the amendment of article 43 of Law 344/1976 (A’143) pertaining to the drafting of original acts of civil status by the Special Registrar’s Office of Athens.
Law 5225 entitled: “Reform of the disciplinary law for public sector employees, establishment of the Hellenic Center of Expertise for Administrative Reforms and other provisions” which was published in the Government Gazette under no. A’ 152/02-09-2025, includes in its article 94 amendments to par. 1 and 3 of article 43 of Law 344/1976 (A’ 143) “on acts of civil status”. Article 43 of Law 344/1976, mentions the following:
1. In exceptional cases and/or when the declaration of acts of civil status or the drafting of original acts cannot be executed by the Supervisor of the competent Greek Consular Authority or the employee of the Consulate who was appointed by the Supervisor for this purpose, these acts of civil status issued by the local foreign authorities pertaining to events which took place abroad and concern Greek citizens who are registered in the Municipal Registers can be registered or originally drafted by the Special Registrar’s Office of Athens. These cases as well as all the necessary details for the implementation of this law are specified by joint decision of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Interior.
2. The Special Registrar’s Office of Athens may also draft reports on changes in civil status of Greek citizens who are registered in the Municipal Registers, changes which occurred abroad. More specifically, pertaining to divorces by mutual consent of article 1441 of the Civil Code, the Special Registrar’s Office of Athens may draft an informative report addressed to the Consulate which drafted the act of marriage in order for the Supervisor of the competent Greek Consular Authority or the employee of the Consulate who was appointed by the Supervisor to proceed to the registration of the notarial act of divorce (dissolution of marriage).
3. Exceptionally, Acts of Death of Greek citizens registered only in the Males Register may be transcribed or originally drafted at the Special Registrar’s Office.
4. For the purposes of this article, the Special Registrar’s Office keeps the records stipulated in article 8.
The above cases as stipulated in par.1 of article 43, which are handled by the Special Registrar’s Office of Athens and the competent Greek Consulates, have already been determined pursuant to Joint Decision under no. 45927/18-06-2021 of the Minister of Interior and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (B’ 2705/24-06-2021) and comprises the following:
- Acts of civil status issued by the local foreign authorities pertaining to events which took place abroad and concern Greek citizens who are registered in the Municipal Registers can be registered at the Special Registrar’s Office, in the following exceptional cases:
- Registration of changes on acts of civil status for which a res judicata of the foreign act must be recognized by the Greek law.
- Registration of events which were not declared in time at the competent local Consulate and the concerned individuals now reside permanently in Greece or in a country other than the one where the event took place. Residence in Greece is proven with the issuance and submission of an attestation of permanent residency of article 279 of Law 3463/2006 (A’ 114), as in effect pursuant to article 188 of law 4764/2020 (A’ 256). Residence in another country is proven with the issuance and submission of a relevant attestation from a Greek Diplomatic or Consular Authority or from another local Authority or Public Service, officially translated in Greek.
- Registration of events for the declaration of which the individuals concerned must travel a distance of over five hundred (500) km to reach the competent local Consulate or if there is no Consulate.
- Corrections of acts of civil status or attestations of civil events pursuant to an irrevocable court judgment, in accordance with the stipulations of article 782 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
- Registration of acts of civil status when the Consular Authorities are unable to draft such acts because their operation is suspended for reasons of force majeure (e.g. health crisis, war, termination or diplomatic relations).
- Events of civil status which take place within the jurisdiction of unpaid Consulates are registered either at the closest Consulate or directly at the Special Registrar’s Office of Athens following the transfer of translated copies of the required certificates from the local foreign authority by the Honorary Consulate.
From the above, it is clear that the jurisdiction of the Special Registrar’s Office of Athens is very specific concurrent to the jurisdiction of the Greek Consular Authorities in the cases which are explicitly mentioned in the aforementioned joint ministerial decision, including cases for which a report is drafted pertaining to changes to acts of civil status of Greek citizens which occurred abroad. Namely, the Special Registrar’s Office of Athens originally drafts acts of civil status or registrers acts of local foreign authorities only in one of the cases which are determined in the Joint Decision under no. 45927/18-06-2021 of the Minister of Interior and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (B’ 2705/24-06-2021).
The term “certificate or act of a local authority” concerns a certificate or act which is issued by the competent public service of the country in which the event of civil status occurred. Based on the foreign certificate/ act of the local authority (duly certified and translated), the Special Registrar’s Office (or the Greek Consulate) is authorized to proceed to the transcription or the drafting of an original act of civil status. In both cases, the act of civil status may be drafted provided that the identity of the individual mentioned in the certificate/ act is certain and ensues from the submission to the service of the Special Registrar’s Office of Athens (or the Greek Consulate) of Greek and foreign (duly certified and translated) official public documents.
The drafting of an original act of civil status is recommended in cases where the foreign act of civil status or certificate does not conform to the stipulations of the Greek law pertaining to the identity information or the civil status of the individual mentioned in the certificate/act.
In the exceptional case where the competent local foreign authority does not issue a Certificate/Statement/Act which attests to the birth, marriage or death, the Special Registrar’s Office of Athens, upon consultation with the competent Consular Authority, drafts the relevant original act as follows:
- Original Act of Marriage pursuant to a church document
- Original Act of Marriage pursuant to the Certificate of a foreign Consulate
- Original Act of Birth pursuant to the Certificate from the maternity clinic
The cases mentioned above pertaining to the drafting of original acts of civil status are indicative, and in any case, the Special Registrar’s Office of Athens (or the Greek Consulate) must take into account all the parameters when conducting their legality check.
