Article 24(1)(a) - languages accepted by the Member State for the public documents to be presented to its authorities pursuant to point (a) of Article 6(1)
As a general rule, Danish authorities are only obliged to accept public documents in Danish and may thus require these documents to be translated if they are not in Danish.
Under the Nordic Language Convention, however, certain documents may be accepted in Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish. This applies in particular to change-of-name certificates, permission to use a name, approval of a name, marriage certificates, civil partnership certificates, certificates of marital status, divorce decrees, separation orders and judgments relating to divorce, separation or annulment of marriage, and judgments to the effect that a marriage or a registered civil partnership is recognised as no longer existing. Furthermore, documents relating to the processing of cases concerning a person’s name may be accepted in German or English.
Documents confirming the absence of any criminal record may also be accepted in English.
In specific cases, however, an authority may allow documents in other languages, but it is not obliged to recognise any languages other than those listed above.
Article 24(1)(b) – an indicative list of public documents falling within the scope of this Regulation
Danish authorities have identified the following as documents falling within the scope of the Regulation:
- absence of a criminal record;
- proof of residence;
- a person’s individual record in the Central Population Register (personattest);
- birth and baptismal certificate (fødsels- og dåbsattest);
- marriage certificate;
- blessing-of-marriage certificate;
- baptismal certificate (dåbsattest);
- birth certificate (fødselsattest) (no longer issued but still valid);
- birth and name certificate (fødsels- og navneattest) (no longer issued but still valid);
- name certificate (navneattest) (no longer issued but still valid);
- death and funeral certificate (issued only in certain cases where a certificate is required for a citizen who died before 1 April 1968, i.e. the date on which the Central Population Register was created);
- change-of-name certificate;
- permission to use a name;
- approval of a name;
- civil partnership certificate;
- certificates of marital status;
- divorce decree;
- separation order;
- judgment
- granting a divorce;
- granting separation;
- granting annulment of a marriage;
- to the effect that a marriage is recognised as no longer existing;
- to the effect that a registered civil partnership is recognised as no longer existing.
Article 24(1)(c) – the list of public documents to which multilingual standard forms may be attached as a suitable translation aid
The following is a list of the Danish documents to which a linguistic annex may be attached as a suitable translation aid:
- absence of a criminal record;
- proof of residence;
- a person’s individual record in the Central Population Register (personattest);
- birth and baptismal certificate (fødsels- og dåbsattest);
- marriage certificate;
- blessing-of-marriage certificate;
- baptismal certificate (dåbsattest);
- civil partnership certificate;
- certificate of marital status.
Article 24(1)(d) – the lists of persons qualified, in accordance with national law, to carry out certified translations, where such lists exist
In Denmark there is no list or database of translators/interpreters that is available to the public.
Article 24(1)(e) – an indicative list of types of authorities empowered by national law to make certified copies
The authority which issued the certificate or the document may in certain cases issue a confirmatory copy. Furthermore, an authority which has taken over the task of the issuing authority may in certain cases also issue a confirmatory copy.
A notary in the Danish courts is also able to issue a confirmatory copy of the certificate or document.
Article 24(1)(f) – information relating to the means by which certified translations and certified copies can be identified
A confirmatory copy will usually show which authority has confirmed the copy, by means of either a stamp from a municipality or notarial certification.
Article 24(1)(g) – information about the specific features of certified copies
A confirmatory copy will in some cases have ‘COPY’ stamped on it.
