43Registers kept by district registrars
(1)The 1965 Act is amended in accordance with subsections (2) to (6).
(2)In section 32 (form and provision of registers etc.)—
(a)after subsection (1) there is inserted—
“(1A)A register of births, deaths, still-births or marriages or the Register of Corrections Etc. may, if the Registrar General so determines, be electronic rather than paper-based.”; and
(b)in subsection (2), for “the foregoing subsection” there is substituted “subsection (1) above”.
(3)For section 34 (examination of registers by district examiners) there is substituted—
“34Examination and transmission of registers
(1)The district examiner, or such other officer as may be nominated for the purpose by the Registrar General, shall, at such time or times and in such manner as the Registrar General may direct, examine the unexamined part of a relevant register kept or held by a district registrar within the district examiner’s district.
(2)An examination under subsection (1) above shall include an examination of any entry in the Register of Corrections Etc. which relates to an entry in a part of a relevant register which is the subject of the examination.
(3)On completion of an examination under subsection (1) above—
(a)the district registrar shall endorse the register so examined, and
(b)the district examiner shall—
(i)endorse that register, and
(ii)transmit to the Registrar General a report of any circumstances arising from the examination to which he considers that the attention of the Registrar General should be drawn.
(4)The district registrar for a registration district shall, at such time or times as the Registrar General may direct, transmit a relevant register to the Registrar General.
(5)In this section—
“the unexamined part” of a register is that part of the register which has not previously been examined under subsection (1) above, and
“the relevant registers” are—
(a)the registers of births, still-births, deaths and marriages, and
(b)any duplicate or copy registers kept in pursuance of directions given by the Registrar General under section 33 of this Act.”.
(4)Section 35 (reproduction of registers following transmission) is repealed.
(5)In section 36 (replacement of lost registers etc.), in subsection (1), the words “or before reproduction in accordance with section 35 of this Act” are repealed.
(6)In section 42 (power of district examiner to correct registers), in subsection (4)—
(a)after “entries” there is inserted “in a register”; and
(b)the words “of the registers” are repealed.