International Coupons - Where the EEU Meets the Comune.

[Obelix]

Ok, I'll tell it as I see it, and if I'm wrong I'll be glad to be told so.

I believe it was a condition of EEU membership that participating States had to make public records available gratis. There is nothing to say however that they cannot charge out of pocket expenses

This doesn't suit the Comunes of Italy who are fixated on screwing money from whoever they can, especially stranieri.

In keeping with this philosophy they have developed a wonderfully sneaky system. They charge a fee, but call it a postage recovery expense, even though there would be no postage incurred in emailing the damn information.

Because they can't be seen to accept cash payment they demand payment by International Coupon , a ridiculously archaic system where you buy coupons in your own country and send them to the comunes who can then exchange them for stamps at their local post office.

The problem is that in most English speaking countries the coupons are almost impossible to obtain, and even if you can get them they are in denominations of $2 or $3, whereas the"fee" is about 25 Euros.

I don't mind being charged a fee, and in my view 25 euros is reasonable, but the crap they make you go through by insisting you send them stamp coupons is over the top.

End of rant.

[johnnyonthespot]

Which comune is charging you 25 euros?

The highest fee ever asked of me was 1,80euros and that was by the state archives of Cosenza and was exactly the amount of the postage on the envelope containing my requested documents (which were mailed to me *before* I mailed the the money to them).

Comune di Malvito, my maternal grandparents comune, has sent me over 20 documents per my four separate inquiries and has never requested any payment whatsoever. I actually feel guilty about this; the same number of documents here in Connecticut would cost me a minimum of $600.00

[Obelix]

Torino, Johnny.

[PeterTimber]

is it possible that they missed a period making it 25.00 Euro instead of 2.50?

I would check this out first. http://www.comune.torino.it/servizi-civ ... hiesta.htm

=Peter=

[liviomoreno]

When you ask for a Certificato Storico di famiglia they may charge a fee for each person that is in the certificate. In this case the charge may be close to 25 Euro.

[PeterTimber]

Livio when you say "may charge a fee......." what does this hesitation mean; that each comune has the option to charge just for the Certificato Storico di Famiglia and for each member or is it relegated to large cities and not smaller towns and villages or whatever distinctions exist? =Peter=

[liviomoreno]

All comune will charge for a Certificato storico di Famiglia. Kep also in mind that this type of certificate is released by the Anagrafe, not the Uffcio di Stato Civile.

[PeterTimber]

I know from my www.angelfire.com...... form letter... website that Anagrafe is the way to go for Certificato di Stato di Famiglia but whenyou said "May charge" I was confused. Obliged for the clarification. =Peter=

[johnnyonthespot]

All comune will charge for a Certificato storico di Famiglia. Kep also in mind that this type of certificate is released by the Anagrafe, not the Uffcio di Stato Civile.

Liveo,

Do I understand correctly that a "Certificato storico di Famiglia" is created on demand and involves researching the birth/marriage/death records for each member of the family, as opposed to the "Certificato di Stato di Famiglia" which is simply a photocopy of an original document which the comune already has on file?

In this case, the Certificato di Stato di Famiglia would have little or no cost, whereas the Certificato storico di Famiglia can become quite expensive depending on the number of family members.

[liviomoreno]

The "Certificato di stato di famiglia" indicates the names and the birth dates of the members of a family (no relationship among them shown) at the date of the request.
If you want to know the composition of a family one week ago or one hundred years ago you always request a "Certificato storico di Stato di famiglia", the fee is 2.58€ per person