CHAPTER 51 - BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRATION ACT: SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION
INDEX TO SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION
Births and Deaths Registration Districts Order
Births and Deaths Registration (General) Rules
Births and Deaths Registration (Aircraft) Rules
BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRATION DISTRICTS ORDER
[Section 3]
Arrangement of Paragraphs
Paragraph
[Order by the Minister]
SI 209 of 1973.
This Order may be cited as the Births and Deaths Registration Districts Order.
Zambia is hereby divided, for the purposes of the Act, into districts, the names and boundaries of which shall be identical with those of the administrative districts of Zambia as defined in the Provincial and District Boundaries Act.
BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRATION (GENERAL) RULES
[Section 21]
[Currency mentioned in this regulation should be re-denominated as stipulated under S 4 of Re-denomination Act, 2012, read with S 29 of Bank of Zambia Act, 1996.]
Arrangement of Rules
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Rules
PART II
PRESCRIBED FORMS AND REGISTERS
PART III
BIRTH AND DEATH CERTIFICATES
5. Issue of birth and death certificate
PART IV
APPOINTMENT OF REGISTRARS, DEPUTY REGISTRARS AND ASSISTANT REGISTRARS DUTIES OF DEPUTY REGISTRARS AND ASSISTANT
6. Appointment of Registrars, Deputy Registrars and Assistant Registrars of Births and Deaths
7. Duties of Deputy Registrars
8. Duties of Assistant Registrars
10. General conduct of registration officers
PART V
GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO ENTRIES IN REGISTRARS
13. Registration in more than one place
14. Cancellation of entry space
15. Signature by mark or in foreign characters
PART VI
REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS
16. Particulars to be registered
17. Particulars as at date of birth
19. Verification of particulars
22. Registration after one month but within twelve months
23. Registration after twelve months
24. Alteration of name after registration
25. Replacement of birth or death certificate
PART VII
RE-REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS OF LEGITIMATED PERSONS
26. Re-registration to be in accordance with section 3 and the Schedule to the Legitimacy Act
PART VIII
BIRTH ENTRIES OF ADOPTED CHILDREN
27. Making of birth entry of adopted child
PART IX
REGISTRATION OF STILL-BIRTHS
28. Application to still-births of certain provisions relating to births
30. Entry of nature of evidence of still-birth
PART X
REGISTRATION OF DEATHS
33. Particulars to be registered and certificate of cause of death
34. Procedure where medical certificate of cause of death is produced
35. Verification of particulars
36. Registration of death after inquest
37. Registration after twelve months
PART XI
DISPOSAL OF BODIES OF DECEASED PERSONS
40. Inquiry in default of notification of disposal
41. Exposed body of deceased person
PART XII
REGISTRATION OFFICES
PART XIII
FEES
44. Notice of birth or death on board ship
[Rules by the Minister]
Act 13 of 1994,
SI 246 of 1973,
SI 66 of 1982,
SI 1 of 1990,
SI 32 of 1995,
SI 30 of 1996,
SI 101 of 1996,
SI 97 of 1998,
SI 39 of 2004,
SI 40 of 2004,
SI 40 of 2014,
SI 44 of 2016.
PART I
PRELIMINARY
These Rules may be cited as the Births and Deaths Registration (General) Rules.
In these Rules, unless the context otherwise requires—
“Assistant Registrar” means the registration officer designated as such at a sub-centre by the Minister;
“birth” does not include still-birth;
“Deputy Registrar” means a person designated as such by the Minister to assist a Registrar in the discharge of his functions;
“disposal certificate” means a certificate issued by a Registrar, police officer or magistrate under section 18(6) and (8) of the Act;
“entry” means a record of the particulars relating to a birth, still-birth or death appearing in the appropriate district or central register;
“maiden surname”, in relation to a woman, includes the surname under which she contracted her marriage (or where she has married more than once, her first marriage);
“medical practitioner” means a registered medical practitioner;
“midwife” means a midwife registered under the provisions of the Nurses and Midwives Act;
“name”, in relation to a person, includes all names by which he is known and called;
“nationality of parents” means nationality of the parents at the time of birth or death of the child, as the case may be;
“notification of disposal” means a notification as to the date, place and means of disposal of the body of a deceased person which a person effecting the disposal is required by section 18 (2) of the Act to deliver to the Registrar;
“occupation” includes rank or profession;
“registration office” means part of the District Secretary’s office or other office set aside in the sub-centres for the registration of births and deaths.
PART II
PRESCRIBED FORMS AND REGISTERS
The forms set out in the First Schedule are hereby prescribed for the respective purposes mentioned in each form.
The Registrar-General shall keep registers of births, still-births and deaths in Forms I, II and III, as applicable, set out in the First Schedule.
[R 4 am by r 2 of SI 44 of 2016.]
PART III
BIRTH AND DEATH CERTIFICATES
5. Issue of birth and death certificate
(1) When an application is made by a person to the Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar for a certificate containing particulars of information which has been registered with regard to the birth or death of a person, the Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar shall issue a certificate in Form IV or V, as applicable, set out in the First Schedule.
(2) The Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar may, where an applicant wishes to have a shortened form of birth certificate instead of the full form of birth certificate, issue the shortened form of birth certificate in Form VII set out in the First Schedule.
[R 5 subs by r 3 of SI 44 of 2016.]
PART IV
APPOINTMENT OF REGISTRARS, DEPUTY REGISTRARS AND ASSISTANT REGISTRARS DUTIES OF DEPUTY REGISTRARS AND ASSISTANT
6. Appointment of Registrars, Deputy Registrars and Assistant Registrars of Births and Deaths
(1) All District Secretaries for the existing administrative districts of Zambia shall be deemed to have been appointed Registrars of Births and Deaths for their respective districts.
(2) All Assistant District Secretaries shall be deemed to have been appointed Deputy Registrars of Births and Deaths for their respective districts:
Provided that, where in any district there are more than one Assistant District Secretary, the Minister shall designate one of the Assistant District Secretaries as Deputy Registrar of Births and Deaths.
(3) The Minister shall appoint suitable persons as Assistant Registrars of Births and Deaths at the sub-centres.
7. Duties of Deputy Registrars
(1) Subject to the provisions of rule 9, a Deputy Registrar may in the absence of a Registrar perform any of the functions of a Registrar under the Act, notwithstanding that his absence may not be unavoidable or occasioned by illness; and a Deputy Registrar shall—
(a) carry out any of the duties of a Registrar as may be delegated to him from time to time;
(b) register a birth, still-birth or death in respect of which a Registrar acts as informant;
(c) call at the offices of Assistant Registrars in his district at fortnightly intervals for the purpose of collecting notices of births and deaths for entry into the district registers and for onward transmission to the Registrar-General.
8. Duties of Assistant Registrars
It shall be the duty of Assistant Registrars to—
(a) assist informants within their areas to complete and sign notices of births, still-births and deaths;
(b) issue general receipts for all payments made in respect of births and deaths certificates; and
(c) render fortnightly accounts to the Deputy Registrar for all moneys, receipts and documents collected during that period.
A Registrar shall not register a birth, still-birth or death of which he is an informant.
10. General conduct of registration officers
(1) A Registrar, Deputy Registrar or Assistant Registrar shall not, while discharging his official duties with any person attending upon him at his office or otherwise coming into communication with him in his official capacity, transact or attempt to transact or to further the transaction of any business of a private nature, either on his own behalf or on behalf of any other person or body.
(2) A Registrar, Deputy Registrar or Assistant Registrar shall not, without the express authority of the Registrar-General, publish or communicate to any person, otherwise than in the ordinary course of the performance of his official duties, any information acquired by him while performing those duties.
(3) A Registrar, Deputy Registrar or Assistant Registrar shall comply with any instruction or direction, whether particular or general, given to him by the Registrar-General in any matter relating to the due performance of his duties.
Every Registrar or Deputy Registrar shall at such times and in such manner as the Registrar-General may direct send to the Registrar-General such statistical returns concerning births, still- births and deaths as he may require to be extracted from the records kept by such Registrar or Deputy Registrar, as the case may be.
Every Registrar, Deputy Registrar or Assistant Registrar shall submit all books and forms in his possession to inspection by any person authorised in that behalf by the Registrar-General and shall, if so required by the Registrar-General, give him a statement as to the books and forms in his possession.
PART V
GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO ENTRIES IN REGISTERS
13. Registration in more than one place
(1) A Registrar or Deputy Registrar shall not register a birth, still-birth or death which has already been registered unless the Registrar-General gives his authority so to do.
(2) Where a birth, still-birth or death is re-registered on the authority of the Registrar-General, the Registrar making the new entry and the Registrar having custody of the register in which the original entry was made shall make such notes (if any) in the margin of the respective entries as the Registrar-General may direct.
14. Cancellation of entry space
Where, during the registration of a birth, still-birth or death, it becomes necessary to cancel an entry space on the appropriate form or register, the Registrar or Deputy Registrar, as the case may be, shall draw a line in ink through that space before calling upon the informant to certify the entry.
15. Signature by mark or in foreign characters
Where a person who is required under any provision of these Rules to sign his name in a register or form makes a mark or signs in characters other than those used in the English language, the Registrar shall write against the mark or signature the words “The mark (or signature) of ....................” inserting the name of the person.
PART VI
REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS
16. Particulars to be registered
The particulars concerning a birth to be registered shall be entered in Form IV set out in the First Schedule.
[R 16 subs by r 4 of SI 44 of 2016.]
17. Particulars as at date of birth
Subject to rule 18, the particulars to be recorded in respect of the parents of a child must be appropriate as at the date of birth of the child and shall be recorded in Form IV set out in the First Schedule.
[R 17 subs by r 4 of SI 44 of 2016.]
(1) The Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar shall, on receiving information of the particulars required by rule 16 from an informant, register the birth in the presence of the informant by inserting the required particulars in Form IV set out in the First Schedule.
(2) The particulars referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be entered by the Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar, in accordance with the instructions in Form VIII set out in the First Schedule.
[R 18 subs by r 4 of SI 44 of 2016.]
19. Verification of particulars
The Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar shall, after inserting the particulars referred to in rule 18(1), request the informant to verify the particulars entered and if it appears that any error has been made in those particulars the Registrar shall, in the presence of the informant, make the necessary correction.
[R 19 subs by r 4 of SI 44 of 2016.]
(1) The Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar shall call upon the informant to sign the notice of birth in the appropriate places and if the informant is illiterate, to affix the informant’s mark on the notice.
(2) If, pursuant to section 15 of the Act, an entry has been made of the name of the person acknowledging to be the putative father of child born out of wedlock, the Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar shall call first upon that person and then upon the mother to sign the notice or, if they are illiterate, to affix their marks on the notice.
[R 20 subs by r 4 of SI 44 of 2016.]
When the Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar has signed the notice of birth, the name and stamp of the Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar, as applicable, shall be impressed under the signature.
[R 21 subs by r 4 of SI 44 of 2016.]
22. Registration after one month but within twelve months
(1) Subject to section 9 of the Act, the Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar may in appropriate cases register the birth of a child which has occurred more than one month previously.
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