information made available to it by the parties, as provided in article 5, paragraph 1, of the Optional Protocol. of both the applicant and the State. The State party emphasizes that a restrictive policy with regard to the change of surname is necessary in order to maintain stability in society. 10.2 The first issue to be determined by the Committee is whether article 17 of the Covenant protects the right to choose and change one's own name. The Committee observes that article 17 provides, inter alia, that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence. The Committee considers that the notion of privacy refers to the sphere of a person's life in which he or she can freely express his or her identity, be it by entering into relationships with others or alone. The Committee is of the view that a person's surname constitutes an important component of one's identity and that the protection against arbitrary or unlawful interference with one's privacy includes the protection against arbitrary or unlawful interference with the right to choose and change one's own name. For instance, if a State were to compel all foreigners to change their surnames, this would constitute interference in contravention of article 17. The question arises whether the refusal of the authorities to recognize a change of surname is also beyond the threshold of permissible interference within the meaning of article 17. 9.3 The Guidelines also contain rules for the new name which an applicant will carry after a change of surname has been allowed. In principle, a new name should resemble the old name as much as possible. If a completely new name is chosen, it should be a name which is not yet in use, which sounds Dutch and which does not give rise to undesirable associations (for instance, a person would not be allowed to choose a surname which would falsely give the impression that he belongs to the nobility). As regards foreign surnames, the Government's policy is that it does not wish to interfere with the law of names in other countries, nor does it wish to appear to interfere with cultural affairs of another country. This means that the new name must not give the false impression that the person carrying the name belongs to a certain cultural, religious or social group. In this sense, the policy with regard to foreign names is similar to the policy with regard to Dutch names. 9.4 The State party submits that the applicant's request is heard by the Minister of Justice, who then adopts his decision in the matter. If the decision is negative, the applicant can appeal to the independent judiciary. All decisions are being taken in accordance to the policy as laid down in the Guidelines. This policy is departed from in rare cases only, in order to prevent arbitrariness. 10.3 The Committee now proceeds to examine whether in the circumstances of the present case the State party's dismissal of the authors' request to have their surnames changed amounted to arbitrary or unlawful interference with their privacy. It notes that the State party's decision was based on the law and regulations in force in the Netherlands, and that the interference can therefore not be regarded as unlawful. It remains to be considered whether it is arbitrary. 9.5 As regards the present case, the State party explains that the authors' request for a change of surname was refused, because it was found that no reasons existed to allow an exceptional change of surname outside the criteria laid down in the Guidelines. In this context, the State party argues that it has not been established that the authors cannot follow the desired religious education without a change of surname. Moreover, the State party argues that, even if a change of surname would be required, this condition is primarily a consequence of rules established by the Hindu-religion, and not a consequence of the application of the Dutch law of names. The State party also indicates that the desired names would identify the authors as members of a specific group in Indian society, and are therefore contrary to the policy that a new name should not give rise to cultural, religious or social associations. According to the State party, the names also conflict with the policy that new names should be Dutchsounding. 10.4 The Committee notes that the circumstances in which a change of surname will be recognised are defined narrowly in the Guidelines and that the exercise of discretion in other cases is restricted to exceptional cases. The Committee recalls its General Comment on article 17, in which it observed that the notion of arbitrariness "is intended to guarantee that even interference provided for by law should be in accordance with the provisions, aims and objectives of the Covenant and should be, in any event, reasonable in the particular circumstances". Thus, the request to have one's change of name recognised can only be refused on grounds that are reasonable in the specific circumstances of the case. 10.5 In the present case, the authors' request for recognition of the change of their first names to Hindu names in order to pursue their religious studies had been granted in 1986. The State party based its refusal of the request also to change their surnames on the grounds that the authors had not Examination of the merits 10.1 The Human Rights Committee has considered the present communication in the light of all the 75