Wrocław's Civil Registry Office took the step on Friday, local officials said.
It follows recent rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union and Polish administrative courts.
The Wrocław decision came a day after the Warsaw Civil Registry Office carried out Poland’s first transcription of a foreign same-sex marriage certificate.
In Polish civil law, transcription means entering a foreign civil status document, such as a marriage certificate, into Poland’s civil registry.
The move concerns marriages legally concluded abroad. It does not mean that same-sex couples can marry in Poland.
“The long-awaited change has become a fact,” said Alina Szeptycka, Wrocław’s equal treatment officer. “After many years, and recently also intense months of struggle, same-sex marriages concluded abroad are marriages also in the light of Polish law.”
She said the change was owed above all to the couples who took their cases to court, their lawyers, and organizations and individuals working for LGBT+ and human rights.
That case followed a March ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) concerning two Polish citizens who married legally in Berlin in 2018.
The court ordered the Warsaw registry office to enter their marriage certificate into the Polish civil register.
The case had earlier been referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union. In November, the court ruled that an EU member state may not refuse to recognize a same-sex marriage legally concluded in another member state when such recognition is needed to protect EU citizens’ rights to free movement and family life.
The ruling does not require Poland to introduce same-sex marriage. Poland currently does not allow same-sex marriage or civil partnerships under domestic law.
Since March, the Supreme Administrative Court has ordered the transcription of marriage certificates for seven same-sex couples, according to reports.
The wider implementation of the European court’s ruling still requires changes to Polish regulations. Work began in November on a regulation changing the templates for civil status records so that foreign same-sex marriage certificates can be entered into the Polish system.
Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski has already signed the regulation. Interior and Administration Minister Marcin Kierwiński said on Thursday that he would countersign it in the coming days.
Government Commissioner for Equality Katarzyna Kotula said the marriage certificate form would be changed to include three versions, depending on whether the marriage was concluded by a woman and a man, two women, or two men.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP