Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996

This Act may be cited as the Births, Deaths and

Marriages Registration Act 1996.

The objects of this Act are to provide for—

the registration of births, deaths and marriages in South

Australia; and

the registration of changes of name; and

the registration of changes in sex or gender identity; and

the keeping of registers for recording and preserving information about births, deaths, marriages and changes of name in perpetuity;

and

access to the information in the registers in appropriate cases by government or private agencies and members of the public, from within and outside the State; and

the issue of certified information from the registers;

and

the collection and dissemination of statistical information.

In this Act—

adult means a person who is 18 or above or, although under 18, is or has been married;

authorised celebrant means an authorised celebrant under the Marriage

Act 1961 (Cwth);

birth means the expulsion or extraction of a child from its mother;

change of name includes an addition, omission or substitution;

child includes a still-born child;

corresponding law means a law of another State that provides for the registration of births, deaths and marriages;

Court means the Magistrates Court;

cremated remains has the same meaning as in the

Burial and Cremation

Act 2013;

death includes still-birth;

disposal of human remains means—

cremation of the remains; or

burial of the remains (including burial at sea); or

placing the remains in a mausoleum or other permanent resting place; or

placing the remains in the custody of an educational or scientific institution for the purpose of medical education or research; or

removal of the remains from the State (but not if the remains have been cremated or are taken from the State by sea and buried at sea in the course of the voyage);

doctor means a person registered under the

Health Practitioner Regulation National

Law to practise in the medical profession (other than as a student);

donor means a person who provided human reproductive material for the purposes of an insemination procedure (whether assisted reproductive treatment, within the meaning of the

Assisted Reproductive Treatment

Act 1988, or any other form of artificial fertilisation procedure) on the understanding that they would not be a parent or legal guardian of a child born as a consequence of the procedure;

donor conception means conception of a child by an insemination procedure (whether assisted reproductive treatment, within the meaning of the Assisted Reproductive

Treatment Act 1988, or any other form of artificial fertilisation procedure) using human reproductive material provided by a donor;

funeral director means a person who carries on the business of arranging for the disposal of human remains;

human remains includes the remains of a still-born child;

prohibited name means a name that—

is obscene or offensive; or

could not practicably be established by repute or usage—

because it is too long; or

because it consists of or includes symbols without phonetic significance; or

for some other reason; or

is contrary to the public interest for some other reason;

registrable event means a birth, change of name, change of sex or gender identity, death or marriage and includes the making or revocation of a surrogacy order;

registrable information means information that must or may be included in the Register¹;

Register—See section 40;

registering authority means an authority responsible under a corresponding law for the registration of births, deaths and marriages;

Registrar means the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages;

State includes a Territory;

still-birth means the birth of a still-born child;

still-born child means a child of at least 20 weeks' gestation or, if it cannot be reliably established whether the period of gestation is more or less than 20 weeks, with a body mass of at least 400 grams at birth, that exhibits no sign of respiration or heartbeat, or other sign of life, after birth but does not include the product of a procedure for the termination of pregnancy;

surrogacy order means an order under section 18 or 19 of the Surrogacy Act 2019;

Tribunal means the South Australian Civil and

Administrative Tribunal established under the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal

Act 2013.

Note1 See section 40(2).

The Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages is responsible, subject to the Minister's control and direction, for the administration of this

Act.

The Registrar is to be a Public Service employee.

The Registrar's general functions are to—

establish and maintain the registers¹ necessary for the purposes of this Act or any other Act; and

administer the registration system established by this Act and ensure that it operates efficiently, effectively and economically;

and

ensure that this Act is administered in the way best calculated to achieve its objects.

In addition to the general functions referred to in subsection (1), the Registrar—

may carry out any other function conferred on the Registrar by or under this Act or any other Act; and

may do anything necessary or expedient to be done for the purposes of a function referred to in this section.

Note1 The registers are collectively referred to as the

Register—See section 40.

The Registrar's staff consists of—

one or more Deputy Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages;

and

the other staff necessary for the proper administration of this

Act.

A Deputy Registrar has the powers and functions of the Registrar but is subject to direction by the Registrar.

The staff are to be Public Service employees.

The Registrar may delegate powers or functions under this or any other Act.

A power or function delegated under this section may, if the instrument of delegation so provides, be further delegated.

A delegation under this section—

must be by instrument in writing; and

may be absolute or conditional; and

does not derogate from the power of the delegator to act in any matter; and

is revocable at will by the delegator.

The Registrar has a seal.

The Registrar may issue a certificate or other document under the

Registrar's signature and seal, or a facsimile of the Registrar's signature and seal produced by stamp, machine imprint or some other method authorised by regulation.

If a document produced before a court, tribunal or an administrative authority or official is apparently under—

the Registrar's signature and seal; or

a facsimile of the Registrar's signature and seal produced by stamp, machine imprint, or some other method authorised by regulation, the court, tribunal, authority or official must presume, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the document was properly issued under the

Registrar's authority.

The Minister may enter into an arrangement with the Minister responsible for the administration of a corresponding law providing for—

the exercise by the Registrar of powers and functions of the registering authority under the corresponding law; and

the exercise by the registering authority under the corresponding law of powers and functions of the Registrar under this Act.

When an arrangement is in force under this section—

the Registrar may exercise, to the extent authorised by the arrangement (but subject to the conditions of the arrangement), the powers and functions of the registering authority under the corresponding law;

and

the registering authority under the corresponding law may exercise, to the extent authorised by the arrangement (but subject to the conditions of the arrangement), the powers and functions of the Registrar under this

Act.

An arrangement under this section may—

establish a data base in which information is recorded for the benefit of all the participants in the arrangement; and

provide for access to information contained in the data base;

and

provide for payments by or to participants in the arrangement for services provided under the arrangement.

When a child is born in the State, the responsible person must give written notice of the birth to the Registrar including the particulars required by regulation. Maximum penalty: $1 250.

The notice must be given—

in the case of a child born alive—within 7 days after birth;

in the case of a still-birth—within 48 hours after birth.

When notice of a still-birth is given, the responsible person must also give a doctor's certificate in a form approved by the Registrar, certifying the cause of foetal death, to—

the Registrar; and

the funeral director or other person who will be arranging for the disposal of the human remains. Maximum penalty: $1 250.

The certificate must be completed by the doctor responsible for the professional care of the mother at the birth or a doctor who examined the body of the still-born child after the birth.

In this section—

responsible person means—

in the case of a child born in a hospital or brought to a hospital within 24 hours after birth—the chief executive officer of the hospital; or

in other cases—the doctor or midwife responsible for the professional care of the mother at the birth.

If a child is born in the State, the birth must be registered under this Act.

If a court (whether of this or any other State or the Commonwealth) directs the registration of a birth, the birth must be registered under this Act.

If a child is born in an aircraft during a flight or on a vessel during a voyage to a place of disembarkation in the State, the birth may be registered under this Act.

If a child is born outside the Commonwealth, but—

the child is to become a resident of the State; or

in the case of a still-born child—a person responsible for having the birth of the child registered is or is to become a resident of the State, the birth may be registered under this Act.

However, the Registrar must not register a birth under subsections (3) or (4) if the birth is registered under a corresponding law.