(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations provide for records of marriages to be kept in churches and chapels of the Church of England and the Church in Wales, other than chapels to which Part 5 of the Marriage Act 1949 applies (naval, military and air force chapels).
Regulation 2 requires parochial church councils to provide books known as “registers of marriage services” to churches and chapels in their parish in which banns of matrimony may be published, for the purposes of keeping the records required by regulation 3. Regulation 2 also imposes requirements relating to the durability and pre-printed content of these registers, and provides that they belong to the parochial church council.
Regulation 3 requires specified information to be recorded in a register of marriage services when a marriage has been solemnized on or after 4th May 2021 according to the rites of the Church of England or Church in Wales in a church or chapel in which banns of matrimony may be published. The record must be made and signed by the member of the clergy by whom the marriage was solemnized.
Regulation 4 imposes requirements relating to the keeping of registers of marriage services provided under regulation 2.
A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument because no, or no significant, impact on the private, public or voluntary sector is foreseen.