Guidance - Copying of Birth, Death, Marriage and Civil Partnership Certificates and Marriage Registers
Number: 7
Date: 27 October 1999
(Revised 9 May 2005)
This guidance sets out the conditions under which officially issued certificates, extracts in Scotland, and entries from marriage registers may be reproduced. Copying of certificates is strictly controlled because of the potential for photocopy documents to assist in the perpetration of fraud.
Purpose
1. To set out for the benefit of the public the conditions under which officially issued birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates, extracts in Scotland, and marriage registers may be copied. This Guidance Note has been produced in consultation with the Office for National Statistics, General Register Office for Scotland and the General Register Office for Northern Ireland.
Issue of birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates
2. The arrangements for the registration of births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships in the United Kingdom are defined in the following legislation:
England and Wales
- Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953
- Marriage Act 1949
- Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978
- The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (applies to the United Kingdom)
Scotland
- Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965
- Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977
Northern Ireland
- Births and Deaths Registration (Northern Ireland) Order 1976
- Marriage (NI) Order 2003
3. Members of the public or any organisation in either the public or private sector may purchase a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership certificate on payment of the appropriate statutory fee. For the most part, only the appropriate Registrar or the Registrar General may issue a certificate. In England and Wales there are certain other persons authorised under the Marriage Act 1949 and the Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978 to issue a marriage certificate. These are as follows:
a) an incumbent of a Church of England parish;
b) registering officer of the Society of Friends;
c) a secretary of a synagogue;
d) an authorised person appointed to a registered building;
e) the chief officer of a diocesan record office.
It is an offence for someone else to make a copy and pass it off as a genuine certificate.
4. Any number of certificates may be purchased. These certificates may not be copied other than for the purposes described in paragraph 8 below.
Copying of birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates and marriage registers
5. The form of public registers and certificates are Crown copyright protected under section 163 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 so registers and certificates may not lawfully be reproduced without prior written consent. The Marriage Act and the Parochial Registers and Records Measure permits the making of certified copies of marriage certificates and the copying of the marriage registers by those persons listed in paragraph 3 above.
Definition of copying
6. For the purposes of this guidance, the term copying includes:
- Photocopying;
- Scanning;
- Filming;
- Reproduction in any other medium, including the placing of material on the Internet.
Forms of certificates as they appear in Regulations
7. The forms of certificates as prescribed in legislation may be copied provided that such copying:
a) is in accordance with guidance issued by HMSO on the reproduction of legislation; and
b) that no attempts are made to pass off such copies as official certificates or copies of official certificates.
Completed certificates
8. Government policy is not to authorise the copying of completed certificates except in the following circumstances:
a) by government departments and local government for the purposes of public administration;
b) by individuals or organisations for their own record keeping purposes, provided that the copies are not passed to others as evidence of birth, death or marriage;
c) within the context of judicial proceedings;
d) within works of genealogical research undertaken by or on behalf of the family concerned where the work in question will be given limited distribution only. For the avoidance of doubt, a work will NOT be regarded as being given limited distribution if it is placed on the Internet;
e) subject to prior formal written permission being granted by HMSO’s Licensing Division, for use within biographies or autobiographies or within academic, educational or historical works not covered by paragraph 8 (d).
f) by the transcribing and copying of the information contained in a certificate. The copyright does not subsist in the information on the certificate, but in the presentation of the information.
Other legal restrictions
9. The copying of certificates that contain personal details, and the use of information taken from such certificates, may, in addition, be subject to:
a) the need for any public body to operate within its statutory powers (the delegated powers rule); and
b) further legal protection for an individual’s rights to be afforded under the Human Rights Act 1998.
c) the Data Protection Act 1998.
Care should be taken to ensure that the above conditions are complied with.
HMSO contact point
10. Applications to reproduce certificates covered under paragraph 8 (e), and requests for further clarification of the policy in this field should be sent to the Information Policy Team or apply online using the Click-Use licensing system.
Carol Tullo
Controller HMSO
Queen’s Printer