Section 63 — Requirements to sign register

(1) The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 is amended as follows.

(2) After section 38A insert—Requirements to sign register38B (1) Where any register of births or register of deaths is required to be kept under this Act otherwise than in hard copy form, the Minister may by regulations provide that— (a) a person’s duty under this Act to sign the register at any time is to have effect as a duty to comply with specified requirements at that time, and (b) a person who complies with those requirements is to be treated for the purposes of this Act as having signed the register at that time and, in the case of a duty to sign the register in the presence of the registrar, to have done so in the presence of the registrar,and accordingly, in such a case, the entry in the register is to be taken for the purposes of this Act to have been signed by the person. (2) The provision that may be made by regulations under this section includes, among other things— (a) provision requiring a person to sign something other than the register; (b) provision requiring a person to provide specified evidence of identity in such form and manner as may be specified. (3) In this section “specified” means specified in regulations under this section.

(3) In section 39A (regulations made by the Minister: further provisions), after subsection (5) insert— (6) A statutory instrument that contains (whether alone or with other provision) regulations made by the Minister under section 38B may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.