19.12.2009

Official Journal of the European Union

C 312/20

(Case C-391/09)

2009/C 312/33

Language of the case: Lithuanian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Claimants: Malgožata Runevič-Vardyn and Łukasz Paweł Wardyn

Defendants: The Municipal Government Administration of the City of Vilnius, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania, the State Commission on the Lithuanian Language and the Civil Registry Division of the Legal Affairs Department of the Municipal Government Administration of the City of Vilnius

Questions referred

1.In the light of the rules contained in Council Directive 2000/43/EC (1) of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, is Article 2(2)(b) of that directive to be construed as prohibiting Member States from indirectly discriminating against individuals on grounds of their ethnic origin in the case where national legal rules provide that personal first names and surnames may be written in documents indicating civil status using only the letters of the national language?

2.In the light of the rules contained in Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, is Article 2(2)(b) of that directive to be construed as prohibiting Member States from indirectly discriminating against individuals on grounds of their ethnic origin in the case where national legal rules provide that the first names and surnames of individuals of different origin or nationality must be written, in documents indicating civil status, using Roman letters and not employing diacritical marks, ligatures or other modifications to the letters of the Roman alphabet which are used in a variety of languages?

3.In the light of Article 18(1) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, which provides that every citizen of the Union has the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, and in the light of the first paragraph of Article 12 of that Treaty, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of nationality, should those provisions be construed as prohibiting Member States from providing in national legal rules that personal first names and surnames may be written in documents indicating civil status using only the letters of the national language?

4.In the light of Article 18(1) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, which provides that every citizen of the Union has the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, and in the light of the first paragraph of Article 12 of that Treaty, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of nationality, should those provisions be construed as prohibiting Member States from providing in national legal rules that the first names and surnames of individuals of different origin or nationality must be written, in documents indicating civil status, using Roman letters and not employing diacritical marks, ligatures or other modifications to the letters of the Roman alphabet which are used in a variety of languages?

(1) OJ L 180, 19.7.2000, p. 22.