Section 4: Successful applications
20.This stipulates that where a Panel has granted an application, it must issue a gender recognition certificate to the applicant. If the applicant is married, the certificate will be an interim gender recognition certificate. Subsection (4) brings Schedule 2 into effect. Schedule 2 provides that, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the fact that an interim gender recognition certificate has been issued to either party to a marriage is a ground for that marriage being voidable. Proceedings for dissolution on this basis must be begun within six months of the issue of the interim certificate. In Scotland, on account of differences in marriage law, the grant of an interim certificate will provide a ground for divorce, rather than make the marriage voidable.
