Sharvada Sharma: Certificate Consent Needed For Those Over 18 Years

Anyone above the age of 18 will need to give their consent before their birth or marriage certificate is released by the Birth, Death and Marriage (BDM) Office.

Permanent Secretary for Justice Sharvada Sharma clarified this yesterday after confusion and widespread comments on social media regarding the ministry’s advertisement published last week.

Part of the advertisement states that ‘Effective from April 8, 2019, all requests to re-print another persons’ (including close family members) birth and marriages certificates will require a letter

of authority from the person(s) whose certificate is required to be printed’.

However no, specific age limit was mentioned.

Mr Sharma said that a child below the age of 18 was exempted from this requirement, however, “Rightfully, parents or legal guardians can obtain their child’s birth certificate without a letter of consent and the BDM officer will do a system check to verify proof of relationship”.

He added that these rules are implemented to protect the identity all Fijians.

“Birth certificates were important identity papers and are personal information, any such data must be protected. Such practices will ensure that we keep the information private and secure,” he said.

Meanwhile, a person requesting to reprint his/her own birth or marriage certificate will need to present a valid ID for verification purposes.

Edited by Susana Tuilau

Feedback: selita.bolanavanua@fijisun.com.fj