European Union countries must recognise gender and name changes made in other member states, the bloc’s top court has ruled.

In what was hailed as a “monumental victory” for transgender people, judges in Luxembourg said Romania had broken EU law by refusing to accept a British-Romanian transgender man’s change of sex and name from female to male, which he was granted in the UK before the Brexit transition period ended.

In a ruling that sets a precedent across the bloc, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said that lawful name and gender changes made in other EU states had to be automatically accepted to protect EU rights to free movement and residence.

It said that Brexit was not relevant because Britain was still a member state during the transition period, when Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi was granted a gender recognition certificate in 2020, after moving to the UK in 2008 and gaining British citizenship.

Mr Mirzarafie-Ahi had applied for a new birth certificate from the Romanian authorities, who ordered him to restart a lengthy gender-recognition procedure in Romania rather than accepting the UK documents.

“Today’s verdict has shown us that trans people are equal citizens of the European Union,” said Iustina Ionescu, Mr Mirzarafie-Ahi’s lawyer.

“When you have rebuilt a life in another part of the European Union because you are not welcome in your own country, it is normal to ask to be treated with dignity when interacting with the authorities in your home country.”