The Referral and Investigation of Proposed Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Northern Ireland and Miscellaneous Provisions) Order 2015

5.  After section 143 (civil partnership schedule) insert—

“Civil partnership notice: false information or evidence

143A.— (1) A registrar may refuse to complete a civil partnership schedule under section 143 (or where one has already been completed, may cancel it) in a case where—

(a) notice of a proposed civil partnership has been given under section 139, and

(b) the registrar has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a relevant decision was made incorrectly because of the provision of false information or evidence in or accompanying that notice.

(2) If the registrar refuses to complete (or cancels) a civil partnership schedule under subsection (1), the parties to the proposed civil partnership are to be taken not to have given notice under section 139; but that does not prevent criminal proceedings from being brought against either party, or any other person, in relation to the giving of the notice.

(3) This section does not limit the powers of the registrar to refuse to complete (or, as the case may be, cancel) a civil partnership schedule.

(4) In this section—

“evidence” includes a photograph or other image;

“exempt person” has the same meaning as in section 139E;

“relevant decision” means a decision of a registrar that a party to the proposed civil partnership is an exempt person.”