A Dutch district court on Monday denied Emile Ratelband’s request to change his date of birth to reflect the age that he says he feels, 49, rather than his actual age, 69.

The court stated that its main reason in denying the request was that “unlike the situation with respect to a change in registered name or gender, there are a variety of rights and duties related to age, such as the right to vote and the duty to attend school. If Mr. Ratelband’s request was allowed, those age requirements would become meaningless.”

The court acknowledged that people may feel fit and healthy, but that that is not “a valid argument for amending a person’s date of birth.” It also stated that maintaining accurate information in the public registers was a priority, and that amending Ratelband’s age would cause 20 years of records to vanish from those registers.