Statelessness in Czechia | January 2024 27 case of the mother). Not registering a birth is an offence and punishable by a fine of up to 10000 CZK. All children, regardless of their nationality, will get a Czech birth certificate, issued by the birth registry. The birth certificate is issued within 30 days of the birth notification. In the case of same-sex couples, only one parent can be listed on the birth certificate, and in the case of children born through surrogacy, only the surrogate mother is listed as a parent on the birth certificate.56 A nationality determination procedure is a way for a person who is a national of a particular country to obtain confirmation of the fact of their nationality. It is often important for a person who was born in a country of which their parents are not nationals, to parents who have different or multiple nationalities, or to stateless parents. Nationality determination procedures can confirm which children who would otherwise be stateless are in fact nationals. Nationality determination is a simple process for most children if their parents are nationals of the country of birth. For children of migrants, the procedure should entail consideration of the laws and practice of the authorities of the parents’ country(ies) of nationality, as well as of the child’s country of birth. Where a child holds multiple nationalities from birth, this should be recorded, and the parents informed. Nationality determination should always be carried out by the competent decision-making authority, and the information recorded across different public authorities should be consistent. In some cases, a nationality determination procedure will identify that a child is stateless. If there are no automatic safeguards in law for the child to acquire the nationality of the country in which they were born, the parents should be informed of ways that their child might be able to obtain a residence permit and acquire a nationality as soon as possible.57 In Czechia, a child’s nationality will be determined when parents apply for a Czech passport, ID, or visa. In case of doubt, parents must apply for a Certificate of Czech Citizenship at the birth registry in the place of birth.58 There is no clear firewall to prevent the sharing of birth registry information with immigration authorities and it is not known whether this happens in practice. There are provisions in the Citizenship Act for stateless children born in the territory. Children acquire nationality automatically, by operation of the law, if both parents are recognised as stateless by the authorities. If not, the procedure is non-automatic and an application for a Certificate of Czech Citizenship must be made, which is decided by the MoI. In this case, the parents must prove that the child has not become stateless only because the parent failed, without serious reasons, to take necessary steps before the authorities of their country of nationality to ensure that the child obtains that nationality.59 This approach does not align with the 1961 Convention as it contradicts the principle of non-discrimination and the primary goal of preventing statelessness, notably by facilitating automatic nationality acquisition for individuals born within the territory of States party. 56 Act on Birth Registry Additional information available in ENS’s report relating to birth registration for stateless children (note 16) and on the Stateless Journeys site, and birth registration is covered in the Statelessness Index (see Questions PRS.6.a – 6.h on the country surveys). 58 Ministry of the Interior, Acquisition of Czech citizenship (CZE) 59 Sections 5, 29, and 41 of the Citizenship Act 57