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Czechs Drop Surgery Requirement for Gender Change
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 26, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
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Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 26, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleCzech Republic removes surgery requirement for gender change, requiring a transsexual diagnosis and observation period instead.
PRAGUE (Reuters) -Czech transgender people will no longer be required to undergo a surgery but will need to be diagnosed as transsexual by specialist doctors and complete observation lasting usually six to 12 months to complete their transition, according to the Health Ministry's new guidelines.
The guidelines issued on Thursday put in practice a Constitutional Court ruling, which last year struck down the surgery requirement.
The ruling, which said the practice violated transgender people's rights for physical integrity and human dignity, moved the central European country in line with most European Union members and was welcomed by human rights activists.
The decision struck down affected parts of the relevant law but did not replace it. The methodology issued on Thursday seeks to clarify the situation and give guidelines to medical professionals, the ministry said.
(Reporting by Jan LopatkaEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
Czech transgender people will no longer be required to undergo surgery for gender change, but must be diagnosed as transsexual by specialist doctors.
The change was prompted by a Constitutional Court ruling that found the surgery requirement violated transgender people's rights to physical integrity and human dignity.
The new guidelines aim to clarify the situation for medical professionals and provide a methodology for diagnosing transgender individuals.
This decision moves the Czech Republic in line with most European Union members, who have already removed similar surgery requirements.
The ruling struck down certain parts of the relevant law but did not replace it, leading to the issuance of new guidelines.
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