The Civil Status Act (PStG) and its Challenges
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2025 3:14 am
In the past, people had to be registered as male or female in the birth register. But now there are people who do not permanently identify as either male or female. No one should be discriminated against because of their gender identity, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled on October 10, 2017 (case number: 1 BvR 2019/16). The legislature was obliged to bring about a constitutional regulation that allows this group of people to be registered in the birth register as neither "male" nor "female". Accordingly, the legislature revised the Civil Status Act (PStG) with effect from January 1, 2019: People who do not permanently identify as male or female can now be registered in the birth register as "diverse" in accordance with Section 22 Paragraph 3 PStG.
The case law
There are already case law rulings based on the change in the law and more will probably follow. In principle, they say the following:
The general personal rights of a person with non-binary gender new zealand consumer email list identity are violated if, for example, they can only choose between “Ms.” and “Mr.” when addressing someone
Omitting a third option and thus forcing a person with non-binary gender identity to choose a gender-specific form of address is not legal
The “generic masculine” may be used in printed forms (Federal Court of Justice of 13 March 2018, Ref.: VI RR 143/17)
Penalties are threatened (Higher Regional Court of April 14, 2022, AZ 9 U 84/21 and Frankfurt Regional Court of August 26, 2021, [AZ 2-30 O 154/20])
Effects
Regardless of the industry or company, the Civil Status Act has enormous effects - especially on the IT system landscape and systems of companies. If a company has not yet been able to implement the legal requirements and will not be able to do so in the near future, the risk increases that a (potential) customer will sue the company for damages or an injunction, thus incurring corresponding fines. In addition, in the age of new media, including social media channels, news and information can spread quickly. It goes without saying that these are not only positive reports. A lack of or inadequate implementation can quickly result in negative publicity for the company and immediately damage its reputation. Counteracting this requires a lot of effort - in other words time and money.
The case law
There are already case law rulings based on the change in the law and more will probably follow. In principle, they say the following:
The general personal rights of a person with non-binary gender new zealand consumer email list identity are violated if, for example, they can only choose between “Ms.” and “Mr.” when addressing someone
Omitting a third option and thus forcing a person with non-binary gender identity to choose a gender-specific form of address is not legal
The “generic masculine” may be used in printed forms (Federal Court of Justice of 13 March 2018, Ref.: VI RR 143/17)
Penalties are threatened (Higher Regional Court of April 14, 2022, AZ 9 U 84/21 and Frankfurt Regional Court of August 26, 2021, [AZ 2-30 O 154/20])
Effects
Regardless of the industry or company, the Civil Status Act has enormous effects - especially on the IT system landscape and systems of companies. If a company has not yet been able to implement the legal requirements and will not be able to do so in the near future, the risk increases that a (potential) customer will sue the company for damages or an injunction, thus incurring corresponding fines. In addition, in the age of new media, including social media channels, news and information can spread quickly. It goes without saying that these are not only positive reports. A lack of or inadequate implementation can quickly result in negative publicity for the company and immediately damage its reputation. Counteracting this requires a lot of effort - in other words time and money.