ElectronicjournalofcomparaTiveLaw,vol.8.3(october2004),<http://www.ejcl.or If a person has acquired the nationality of a Member State as a result of the application of a rule that violates international law, other Member States are entitled to treat that person as not possessing that nationality and, consequently, as a non-European citizen. This conclusion in line with the general reaction to attribution of nationality in violation of international law. More complex is the situation in which deprivation of nationality is in breach of rules of public international law. If a person has been deprived of the nationality of a State as a result of the application of a rule that violates international law, the generally accepted view is that other States should not regard such withdrawal of nationality as not having taken place. If they were to do that, they would not activate the international rules or, as the case may be, the national rules aiming to reduce cases of statelessness 67 Within the framework of the European Union, a different, more effective approach is needed If a person were to be deprived of the nationality of a Member State in violation of public international law, other Member States and the Union would be obliged to treat that person as continuing to possess European citizenship. 6 c)The most important limitation of the autonomy of Member States in matters of nationality is without a doubt the guarantee of the right of free movement of persons within the European Union. 69 The fundamental right of free movement within the European Union may for instance, be violated if a national of a Member State would lose his national ity-and therefore the status of citizen of the union- if he lived abroad in another member State during a certain period of time. The use of the right of free movement guaranteed by the EC Treaty in conjunction with such a regulation would cause loss of nationality and as a result in some cases-loss of the status of European citizen. Such a national rule is incompatible with Community law Let us assume that the Netherlands was to amend the provision of Article 15 (1)(c) Netherlands Nationality Act as follows: 70 Netherlands nationality shall be lost by any Netherlands national, who also possesses another nationality and, after having reached majority, has lived for an uninterrupted period of ten years outside the Netherlands, the Netherlands antilles or aruba. other than in the service of the Netherlands or the Netherlands Antilles or of an international organisation in which the Kingdom is represented or as the spouse of a person in such service. 'In some instances, application of this rule would constitute a violation of Community law. This would be the case if a person possessed both Netherlands nationality and the nationality of a non-EU State. After having lived for a period of ten years in, for instance, Germany, he would lose his Netherlands nationality and See De groot(1989), pp 17-23, with further references 67 Ibid., p. 22 Compare alsoO'Keeffe and Bavasso(1998), where they stress that, once an individual has obta ined the status of European citizen, judicial control by the eCj of cases of deprivation of Member State nationa lity perfectly admissible in the light of the effects that this measure will produce on European citizenship rights. See also Hall(1995),pp. 9, 10, 99, and Kota lakidis(2000),p. 313 Compare Greenwood(1987 See also Kotalakidis(2000), p. 314Electronic Journal of Comparative Law, vol. 8.3 (October 2004), <http://www.ejcl.org/> 14 If a person has acquired the nationality of a Member State as a result of the application of a rule that violates international law, other Member States are entitled to treat that person as not possessing that nationality and, consequently, as a non-European citizen. This conclusion is in line with the general reaction to attribution of nationality in violation of international law.66 More complex is the situation in which deprivation of nationality is in breach of rules of public international law. If a person has been deprived of the nationality of a State as a result of the application of a rule that violates international law, the generally accepted view is that other States should not regard such withdrawal of nationality as not having taken place. If they were to do that, they would not activate the international rules or, as the case may be, the national rules aiming to reduce cases of statelessness.67 Within the framework of the European Union, a different, more effective approach is needed. If a person were to be deprived of the nationality of a Member State in violation of public international law, other Member States and the Union would be obliged to treat that person as continuing to possess European citizenship.68 c) The most important limitation of the autonomy of Member States in matters of nationality is without a doubt the guarantee of the right of free movement of persons within the European Union.69 The fundamental right of free movement within the European Union may, for instance, be violated if a national of a Member State would lose his nationality - and therefore the status of citizen of the Union - if he lived abroad in another Member State during a certain period of time. The use of the right of free movement guaranteed by the EC Treaty in conjunction with such a regulation would cause loss of nationality and as a result - in some cases - loss of the status of European citizen. Such a national rule is incompatible with Community law. Let us assume that the Netherlands was to amend the provision of Article 15 (1) (c) Netherlands Nationality Act as follows:70 ‘Netherlands nationality shall be lost by any Netherlands national, who also possesses another nationality and, after having reached majority, has lived for an uninterrupted period of ten years outside the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba, other than in the service of the Netherlands or the Netherlands Antilles or of an international organisation in which the Kingdom is represented, or as the spouse of a person in such service.’ In some instances, application of this rule would constitute a violation of Community law. This would be the case if a person possessed both Netherlands nationality and the nationality of a non-EU State. After having lived for a period of ten years in, for instance, Germany, he would lose his Netherlands nationality and 66 See De Groot (1989), pp. 17-23, with further references. 67 Ibid., p. 22. 68 Compare also O’Keeffe and Bavasso (1998), where they stress that, once an individual has obtained the status of European citizen, judicial control by the ECJ of cases of deprivation of Member State nationality is perfectly admissible in the light of the effects that this measure will produce on European citizenship rights. See also Hall (1995), pp. 9, 10, 99, and Kotalakidis (2000), p. 313. 69 Compare Greenwood (1987). 70 See also Kotalakidis (2000), p. 314