Name of the child in Serbian private international law

Rules of Serbian Private International Law pertaining to the name of the child, both those currently in force, and those that are proposed in the Draft Private International Law Code (2004) are discussed in this article in the light of the decisions of the Court of the EU in Garcia Avello and Grunkin-Paul. The main issue related to the name of the child with an international element is how to regulate the recognition of first and last names of Serbian nationals determined abroad. Currently, there is a unilateral conflict rule providing for application of mandatory norms of Serbian family law. That means that the current Serbian law does not allow recognition of the name of the Serbian child determined according to foreign law if the foreign rules are different than the Serbian applicable rules. The registrar is directed to request the parents to adapt the child's name to requirements of Serbian law, irrespective of the consequences, i. e. the possibility that the child will bear different names in different countries. The fact that the child may also be a national of that other country and habitually resident there, is of no consequence. The Draft PIL Act introduces significant changes by: providing for a possibility for parents to choose the applicable law in case of change of name so that they can choose between the laws of the child's various nationalities, and by providing for recognition of changes of name conducted in a foreign country if the child has been a habitual resident of that country for at least five years. The author argues for introduction of substantive rules into the future PIL Code, which would provide for a possibility of recognition of child's name determined in the country of his other nationality or of his habitual residence.