The Convention on the issue of multilingual extracts from civil status records (CIEC No. 16) was concluded in Vienna on 8 September 1976, in a single copy deposited with the Swiss Federal Council. The authentic text is French. Article 13: entry into force on the thirtieth day after the fifth notification — 30 July 1983. Depositary: the Swiss Federal Council. It is not the 1956 Paris convention, which it replaces between States for which the 1976 instrument has entered into force, nor the 2014 CIEC convention.

Article 1: at the request of an interested party or when a translation is needed, extracts of births, marriages and deaths are drawn up in accordance with forms A, B and C in the annexes; they are issued only to persons entitled to verbatim copies. Article 2: on the basis of the original particulars and later annotations. Article 8: the same value as domestic extracts; accepted without legalisation. Article 9: charges may not exceed those for a domestic extract.

Articles 4–6 govern Latin-script entries, dates in Arabic numerals and languages: on the front at least an official language of the issuing State and French; translations on the reverse. Article 11 allows a reservation on extracts relating to the birth of adopted children. Article 12: notification of constitutional procedures. Article 17: accession after entry into force. Article 18: indefinite duration; denunciation after one year in force, taking effect six months later.

Signatories on the day of conclusion included Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and Yugoslavia. The text consulted is the English version certified by the CIEC General Assembly, aligned with UNTS 22132. We do not list the annex fields.

The Convention remains in force between parties that have not moved to the 2014 instrument. The EU regulation on the circulation of public documents is a separate regime.

Cover: Ballhausplatz in Vienna, the Austrian ministerial quarter; we do not claim the hall. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Convention on the Issue of Multilingual Extracts from Civil Status Records; CIEC Convention No. 16 multilingual extracts.