Statelessness Working Paper Series 2017/04 However, paragraph 1 will not be applicable if the child can obtain another nationality by his legal representative or representatives initiating an administrative procedure before the diplomatic or consular authorities of the country of origin of both representatives or one of them.44 This addition aimed at avoiding cases of aliens abusing the previous legislation by consciously giving birth in Belgium and not registering their child before the authorities of their country of origin in order for the child to satisfy the statelessness requirement and obtain Belgian nationality.45 A Ministerial Circular46 published in May 2007 provides guidance for interpreting the new provisions of the Law of 27 December 2006.47 The Circular gives interpretive guidance for the application of Article 10(1) and 10(2) BNC to registered asylum seekers, recognised refugees, and persons benefiting of subsidiary protection. Its content and the following implications for those statuses are discussed below. Only a few judgments dealing with nationality are published online and it is therefore difficult to find jurisprudence in this domain. 48 Although the courts have yet to address specific cases of asylum seekers, three national judgments discussing the granting of nationality based on Article 10 BNC can be found. The most recent judgment was dated October 20, 2015 and interpreted the application of the exclusion clause found in Article 10(2) BNC.49 The case concerned parents of Brazilian nationality. The child obtained Belgian nationality according to Article 10(1) BNC in order to avoid him becoming stateless as a result of Brazilian law not authorising him to obtain Brazilian nationality. Following a marriage and recognition of the child by a Brazilian father, the municipal authorities changed the nationality of the child and registered him as Brazilian. In court, the representatives of the municipality argued that following the father's recognition of the child, the latter could obtain Brazilian nationality by initiating an administrative procedure, which the municipality representative claimed was falling under the exclusion clause to obtain Belgian nationality found in Article 10(2) BNC. However, the judge interpreted the clause as only applying in order to determine whether the child could obtain Belgian nationality according to Article 10(1) BNC and concluded that it did not apply in order to revoke nationality from a person who had obtained Belgian nationality according to this Article. The argument of the municipality was therefore rejected. The implications of the judgment are that nationality granted under Article 10(1) can only be lost based on Article 10(4) BNC which guarantees the child has obtained another nationality before being deprived of Belgian nationality. The Court’s reasoning can be applied to children of former asylum seekers, whose status has been refused but whose child born in Belgium already obtained Belgian nationality on the basis of Article 10(1) BNC. In such a case, it would mean that the child’s Belgian nationality cannot be revoked based on the fact that the parents can be expected to undertake steps to obtain the nationality of origin for his or her child by contacting the authorities of his or her country of origin, as the exception in Article 10(2) BNC provides. Only if the child obtained Syrian or another nationality can his/her Belgian nationality be revoked before he/she child turns 18. The second judgment was issued by the Constitutional Court.50 The question before the court was whether the new provision of Article 10(2) BNC was violating the right to acquire a nationality under 44 Belgium, BNC, Article 10(2), author's translation. UNHCR, Mapping statelessness (2012), p. 96. 46 See http://www.vocabulairepolitique.be/circulaire/. 47 Belgium, Circulaire relative aux modifications du Code de la nationalité belge introduites par la loi du 27 décembre 2006 portant des dispositions diverses I, 25 May 2007. 48 Information provided by Patrick Wautelet; See also, C. L. Closset, Traité de la nationalité en droit belge. (Éditions Larcier, 2015). This reference book on Belgian nationality law does not mention any jurisprudence on Article 10 of the BNC. 49 Belgium, Court of First Instance, Brussels, 25 October 2015, N°14/3830/A. 50 Belgium, Constitutional Court, 24 April 2008, N°73/2008. 45 7