Luuk van der Baaren Spanish citizenship law.88 In addition to these permanent changes, persons of Sephardic origin were temporarily enabled to acquire Spanish citizenship through special naturalisation (carta de naturaleza) if they could submit proof of their Sephardic origin as well as their ‘special relationship’ with Spain.89 In 2018, the initial three-year deadline for submitting applications was extended with one additional year, which meant that the special provisions were in force until October 2019.90 4. Conclusions This report has studied the developments in the EU-28 for three types of dual citizenship restrictions in the period 2010-2020, namely 1) requirements to renounce the original citizenship upon the acquisition of citizenship (Globalcit modes of acquisition A05-A27), 2) provisions stipulating the (automatic or not-automatic) loss of citizenship upon the acquisition of a foreign citizenship (Globalcit mode of loss L05), and 3) provisions stipulating the (automatic or non-automatic) loss of citizenship upon the retention of a foreign citizenship (Globalcit mode of loss L06). The report has shown that, on 1 January 2020, in 16 EU Member States (Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom), none of the three dual citizenship restrictions mentioned above were in place, while 12 other EU Member States (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain) did impose at least one of these three restrictions. In ten EU Member States (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain), the renunciation of an original citizenship is required upon the acquisition of citizenship. However, this requirement is not absolute in any of these states. Exemptions are common for spouses, recognised refugees, citizens of particular origin countries or persons who are culturally affiliated to the country and persons who acquire citizenship on meritorious or economic grounds. In nine EU Member States (Austria, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Spain), the acquisition of a foreign citizenship can result in the loss of citizenship. Only in Slovakia, this provision is absolute. The other eight states provide exceptions to their main rule. These exceptions are most extensive in Estonia and Ireland, as Estonian citizens by birth are constitutionally protected from involuntary loss of citizenship, while the Irish loss provision is only applicable to citizens by naturalisation. For the other states, the most common exemptions are related to citizens who acquire the citizenship of particular states or enable citizens to obtain permission for retention of citizenship. Provisions for the loss of citizenship upon the retention of a foreign citizenship acquired during minority are relatively rare, as only three states (Germany, Latvia and Lithuania) have implemented such a rule. In Lithuania, the scope of the provision is very small, as Lithuanian citizens by birth are exempted. Germany and Latvia also provide for numerous exemptions, as Germany inter alia exempts those who established sufficient ties with Germany during minority as well as citizens of EU Member States and Switzerland, while Latvia exempts citizens of EU, 88 Vonk, O., Dual nationality in the European Union : a study on changing norms in public and private international law and in the municipal laws of four EU Member States, Leiden: Brill Publishers 2012, p. 281 ff. 89 Art. 1 par. 1 Law 12/2015. 90 Ordinance, PRA/325/2018, Official state Gazette [Boletín Oficial del Estado], No. 75, 15 March 2018. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-Comp. 2020/4 - © 2020 Authors 17