No. 110-00-3/2026-02  Date: 23. 4. 2026.

MINISTRY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

Snežana Paunović, Minister

11000 BELGRADE

Birčaninova 6

Subject: Initiative for the amendment of Article 6 of the Rulebook on the Manner of Issuance and the Form of the Certificate of the Competent Health Institution on Gender Reassignment (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 103/2018)

Dear Ms. Paunović,

The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, within the competences prescribed by the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination,[1] monitors the implementation of laws and other regulations and initiates the adoption or amendment of regulations with the aim of advancing equality and protecting against discrimination.

A trans man filed a complaint with the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality against the city administration, i.e. the registry office, pointing to the lengthy period of time that elapsed from the moment when the health institution sent the certificate of gender reassignment to the competent registry office to the moment when he exercised the right to change his name. During the proceedings, the registry office, in its response to the allegations of the complaint, indicated that pursuant to Article 2 of the Rulebook on the Manner of Issuance and the Form of the Certificate of the Competent Health Institution on Gender Reassignment (“Official Gazette” of RS, No. 103/2018), the certificate of gender reassignment is a public document based on which the municipal or city administration, as the competent authority, issues a decision on the basis of which the fact of gender reassignment is entered in the birth register in which the fact of birth of the person who has undergone gender reassignment was recorded. It was further noted that Article 6, paragraph 1 of this Rulebook provides that the following information shall be entered in the certificate of gender reassignment: first and last name, date, place, municipality/city of birth, unique personal identification number, first and last names of the parents of the person whose gender was reassigned, information on the gender reassignment for that person, as well as the first and last name of the physician who issued the certificate and their signature. The response specifically noted that since the adoption of the aforementioned Rulebook in 2018, it has not occurred in the practice of this authority that the certificate of gender reassignment from the competent health institution was delivered in electronic form, but always by regular mail, written and filled in by the competent physician in a very illegible manner by hand, without any contact information (telephone number, address) or any data that would enable this authority to notify persons who have undergone gender reassignment of the change of data in the registers and the further steps for exercising the right to change their personal name and personal documents.

It was further noted that the registry office had, acting ex officio, issued a decision on the change of the gender designation immediately upon receipt of the certificate of gender reassignment from the competent health institution, but that it was unable to contact the person whose personal status was in question as it did not have their contact information, and was therefore compelled to wait for the person to approach them.

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia[2] provides in Article 21 that all persons shall be equal before the Constitution and the law (paragraph 1); that everyone shall have the right to equal legal protection, without discrimination (paragraph 2); that all direct or indirect discrimination based on any grounds, particularly on race, sex, national origin, social origin, birth, religion, political or other opinion, property status, culture, language, age, and mental or physical disability, shall be prohibited (paragraph 3); and that special measures introduced by the Republic of Serbia to achieve full equality of individuals or groups of individuals who are in a substantially unequal position compared to other citizens shall not be deemed discrimination (paragraph 4).

The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,[3] ratified by the Republic of Serbia, prohibits discrimination in Article 14 and provides that the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, color, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status..

The constitutional prohibition of discrimination is further elaborated in the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination,[4] which provides in Article 2, paragraph 1, item 1 that discrimination and discriminatory conduct shall mean any unjustified distinction or unequal treatment or omission (exclusion, restriction or preference) in relation to persons or groups, as well as members of their families or persons close to them, whether overt or covert, based on race, skin color, ancestry, citizenship, national affiliation or ethnic origin, language, religious or political beliefs, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, sex characteristics, income level, property status, birth, genetic characteristics, health status, disability, marital and family status, criminal record, age, appearance, membership in political, trade union or other organizations and other actual or presumed personal characteristics. Furthermore, Article 12, paragraph 1 prohibits harassment, degrading treatment and sexual and gender-based harassment, which has the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person or group of persons on the basis of their personal characteristics, in particular if it creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive environment. The provisions of Article 20 prescribe that discrimination exists if conduct is contrary to the principle of gender equality, i.e. the principle of equal rights and freedoms of women and men in the political, economic, cultural and other aspects of public, professional, private and family life, and it is prohibited to deny rights or to openly or covertly recognize privileges on grounds of sex, i.e. gender and gender identity, or due to gender reassignment, i.e. adjustment of sex to gender identity, as well as due to pregnancy, maternity leave, parental leave or special child care leave. The same article also prohibits physical and other violence, exploitation, expression of hatred, disparagement, blackmail and harassment on grounds of sex, i.e. gender and gender identity, as well as public advocacy, support for and acting in accordance with prejudices, customs and other social patterns of behaviour that are based on the idea of the subordination or superiority of the sexes, i.e. stereotypical gender roles.

The provisions of Article 45b of the Law on Civil Registration Records[5] prescribe that the data on gender reassignment shall be entered in the birth register on the basis of a decision of the authority referred to in Article 6, paragraphs 2 and 4 of that law, issued on the basis of the prescribed certificate of the competent health institution. It is further prescribed that the health institution shall deliver the certificate to the competent authority within 15 days from the date of gender reassignment, delivering it electronically and, without delay, also by mail. The following information shall be entered in the certificate referred to in paragraph 1 of this article: first and last name; date; place; municipality/city of birth; unique personal identification number; first and last names of the parents of the person whose gender was reassigned; information on the gender reassignment for that person, as well as the first and last name of the physician who issued the certificate.

The provisions of Article 6 of the Rulebook on the Manner of Issuance and the Form of the Certificate of the Competent Health Institution on Gender Reassignment prescribe that the following information shall be entered in the certificate of gender reassignment: first and last name, date, place, municipality/city of birth, unique personal identification number, first and last names of the parents of the person whose gender was reassigned, information on the gender reassignment for that person, as well as the first and last name of the physician who issued the certificate and their signature.

Upon examination of the form of the Certificate of Gender Reassignment, which forms an integral part of the Rulebook on the Manner of Issuance and the Form of the Certificate of the Competent Health Institution on Gender Reassignment, it was established that no field is provided for the entry of any contact information of the person who has undergone gender reassignment, on the basis of which the registry office could contact that person to notify them of the further procedure for exercising their rights.

Numerous studies show that transgender persons are exposed to harassment and attacks both in public spaces (on the street, in public institutions, in transport) and in their homes, from their family of origin or partners.[6] The results of the Survey on Citizens’ Attitudes towards Discrimination[7] from 2024, conducted by the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, show that when it comes to the perception of the prevalence of discrimination in relation to personal characteristics, 59% of respondents believe that discrimination is most prevalent on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics. The research on the needs of the trans community, conducted in 2019 by Geten,[8] shows that only half of respondents report feeling safe in public spaces, while one quarter, due to their transgender identity, never, rarely or only sometimes feel safe in public spaces or even in their own home. Half of respondents (46%) stated that during their schooling they had never felt safe disclosing their gender identity, while in the workplace the majority of respondents share that part of their identity with nobody (36%). Furthermore, four out of ten respondents (39.4%) state that they have experienced difficulties in daily life due to documents that do not correspond to their gender identity, and one quarter (25.4%) state that they have as a result suffered some form of discrimination and/or violence. These are inconveniences that respondents categorized as minor (e.g. officials not believing that it is the person in the photograph, “looking, asking, commenting”), but an additional problem is that inappropriate documents, precisely due to the expectation of negative reactions, lead to avoidance of situations in which documents must be shown (“The bigger problem to some extent is that fear of unpleasantness and poor treatment due to my documents leads me to avoid situations where I have to use them”), which also affects access to various services, including those in the area of healthcare. The Guide through Transition for Trans Persons in Serbia,[9] published in 2020 by the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Team of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, states that due to inappropriate personal documents, trans persons encounter serious challenges in exercising rights in the areas of labor and employment, education, social and healthcare protection, family life and other areas. Various activities, such as socialization and travel, are significantly hampered or entirely prevented until the completion of the lengthy and complicated process of changing personal documents. The change of personal documents is conditional upon medical interventions to which not all trans persons are able or willing to undergo, as a result of which they lose the possibility of obtaining appropriate personal documents, which further complicates their daily lives.

The ability of the registry office to contact the person who has undergone gender reassignment immediately after receiving the certificate of gender reassignment from the competent health institution and issuing the decision on the change of gender designation shortens the period during which the personal documents of a trans person are not in accordance with their gender identity. A trans person is exposed to a greater risk of offensive and degrading treatment in the course of exercising their guaranteed rights, as well as a security risk, since their gender identity differs from the information and photographs in their documents. Due to inappropriate personal documents, trans persons encounter serious challenges in exercising rights in the areas of labor and employment, education, social and healthcare protection, family life and other areas, as their gender identity differs from the information and photographs in their documents.

Having regard to all of the above, the Commissioner hereby submits to the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government an initiative for the amendment of Article 6 of the Rulebook in such a manner as to prescribe that the certificate of gender reassignment, in addition to the data already referred to in paragraph 1 of that article, shall also contain contact information (telephone number, address, e-mail address) that would enable the registry office to notify the person who has undergone gender reassignment of the change of data in the registers and the further steps for exercising the right to change their personal name and personal documents.

Given that the Rulebook on the Manner of Issuance and the Form of the Certificate of the Competent Health Institution on Gender Reassignment was adopted jointly by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the Ministry of Health, the Commissioner has submitted the same initiative to the Ministry of Health.

We kindly request that you inform us of the measures taken.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Milan Antonijević

[1]Official Gazette of RS, nos. 22/09 and 52/21

[2]Official Gazette of RS, nos. 98/06 and 115/21

[3]Official Gazette of SCG – International Treaties, nos. 9/03, 5/05, 7/05 – corr. and Official Gazette of RS – International Treaties, nos. 12/10 and 10/15

[4]Official Gazette of RS, nos. 22/09 and 52/21

[5]Official Gazette of RS, nos. 20/09, 145/14 and 47/18

[6]Position and Needs of Transgender and Gender Non-Binary Persons in Serbia, Jelena Vidić, Geten, Centre for LGBTIQ Rights and Centre for Schema Therapy Belgrade, Psychological Research, Vol. XXIV (1) 2021.

[7]Report on Citizens’ Perception of Discrimination in Serbia, available at: https://ravnopravnost.gov.rs/izvestaj-o-percepciji-gradjana-i-gradjanki-o-diskriminaciji-u-srbiji/

[8]Available at: https://www.transserbia.org/resursi/biblioteka/1704-istrazivanje-o-potrebama-trans-zajednice

[9]Available at: https://socijalnoukljucivanje.gov.rs/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Vodic_kroz_tranziciju_za_trans_osobe_u_Srbiji.pdf