3.—(1) The Head of the Department may appoint a fit and competent person as the Registrar General of Births and Deaths in Northern Ireland (in this Order referred to as “the Registrar General”).
(2) Section 18(2) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 [1954 c.33] (provisions as to holders of offices) shall apply to the appointment of the Registrar General.
(3) The Registrar General shall transmit to the Head of the Department an annual report setting out the numbers of live-births and still-births and deaths registered during each year, together with such other information as he considers it appropriate to include or as the Head of the Department may require, and the Head of the Department shall lay the report before the Assembly.
4.—(1) The Department shall continue to maintain the offices of the Registrar General known as the General Register Office.
(2) The Department shall appoint such officers to the General Register Office as the Department may consider necessary for the purpose of discharging the functions of that Office.
[F1(3) Any function of the Registrar General may be performed by an officer appointed under paragraph (2) and authorised for the purpose of that function by the Registrar General.]
F1Art. 4(3) added (3.10.2011) by Civil Registration Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 (c. 20), ss. 12, 34; S.R. 2011/323, art. 2(e)
5.—(1) Each local government district shall be a registration district for the purposes of the registration of births and deaths and the district council shall be the local registration authority for those purposes.
(2) A district council shall, in the exercise of the functions conferred on it as a local registration authority,—
(a)act as agent for the Department; and
(b)act in accordance with such directions as the Department may give to the council;
and any expenditure to be incurred in the exercise of those functions shall be subject to the approval of the Registrar General.
6.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Article, a local registration authority, with the approval of the Registrar General, shall appoint a registrar and one or more deputy registrars.
(2) A person holding an appointment under paragraph (1) may with the approval of, and shall at the direction of, the Registrar General be removed from his office of registrar or deputy registrar by the local registration authority.
(3) Any person holding an appointment under paragraph (1) shall have the functions set out in this Order and such functions as may be prescribed in relation to that appointment, and in exercising his functions under this Order and any other statutory provision shall be subject to such instructions or directions as the Registrar General may give.
7. The Department shall retain or, as the case may be, defray in respect of each financial year the amount of the difference between—
(a)the aggregate of the amounts of salaries, superannuation and other expenses payable by virtue of this Order in respect of any registration district; and
(b)the aggregate of the amounts received in that registration district whether under any statutory provision or otherwise by way of fees or other expenses.
8.—(1) A local registration authority shall provide and maintain—
(a)a suitably equipped Register Office in such premises as it may, with the approval of the Registrar General, determine;
(b)a fireproof repository or a fireproof safe or container which, in the opinion of the Registrar General, is suitable for keeping safe the records and registers in the custody of the registrar.
(2) A local registration authority shall cause a notice showing the name of the registration district and the hours fixed for attendance to be placed in a conspicuous position outside the premises containing the Register Office.
9.—(1) When any person ceases to hold the office of registrar, he shall deliver up to his successor or such person as the local registration authority may designate all register containers, keys, registers and documents in his custody as holder of that office.
(2) If any person who has in his custody or power any such article as is mentioned in paragraph (1) wilfully fails to deliver it up to, or account for it to the satisfaction of, any person in whose charge it should be, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding[F2 level 2 on the standard scale].
(3) Where a person is convicted under paragraph (2) in respect of a failure to deliver up an article or account for it, and the failure continues after conviction he shall be guilty of a further offence and shall be liable on summary conviction, in addition to the fine specified in that paragraph, to a fine not exceeding £5 for every day subsequent to the day on which he is first convicted of an offence under that paragraph on which the offence continues.
(4) If a justice of the peace is satisfied by information on oath that there is reasonable cause to believe that any article withheld in contravention of this Article is in any specified house or place, he may grant a search warrant authorising any constable named therein to enter and search that house or place at any time and seize any such article so found, and any article so seized shall be delivered to the person in whose custody it should be.