Decree of the Court of Pesaro 14 October 2014

With this decree,  the Court of Pesaro ordered to remove the transcript of a same-sex marriage celebrated in Netherlands from the Italian vital records , because the same-sex marriage does not exist in the legal order of Italy. For the Court, this situation is not incompatible with non-discrimination under Article 3 of Constitution, because same-sex couples’ rights and obligations are protected in Italy; they do not include, however, the right to marriage. Italian legislation does not infringe Articles 8 and 12 of the ECHR, or Articles 7 and 21 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. It is a matter of fact that States are free, in accordance with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, to choose means different from marriage in order to protect the rights and obligations of same-sex couples.