As of tomorrow, 1 April 2017, registered partnerships in Austria will be concluded at the same place as marriages: in the wedding-halls of the civil registry offices ("Standesamt"). At the same time the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Austria has to pay compensation for the segregation.

In a judgment handed down on 30 September 2016 the Italian Supreme Court, First Civil Division, rejected an appeal by the Administration and the Public Prosecutor against a decision by the Court of Appeal of Turin of 2014. On appeal judges reversed the first instance court that upheld the refusal by the civil status registrar to recognize and register a Spanish birth certificate mentioning two mothers.

In a case litigated by ECSOL-member Petr Kalla the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic ruled today to abolish Sec. 13(2) of the Registered Partnership Act. This provision prohibited gays and lesbians to adopt a child as individuals once they entered into a registered partnership, even though as a single person, they would be eligible to adopt. The today’s ruling of the Constitutional Court allows the gays and lesbians to adopt a child as individuals even after they enter into registered partnership. This decision is the first decision in which he Constitutional Court rules in the matter of the Registered Partnership Act and same-sex domestic partnership.

In line with an earlier decision on same-sex parents following surrogacy in California, the German Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) on 20 April 2016 recognized two co-mothers in line with South African law. As part of its decision, the Court also settled the question whether foreign same-sex marriages were to be considered as marriages or as life partnerships under German law. It opted for the lower status, affirming the central importance of marriage’s opposite-sex character.