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Disclaimer / Limitations
This country’s legal measures were reviewed by our legal staff in consultation with in-country lawyers and/or CRVS legal experts. All efforts were made to ensure the accuracy of the legal analysis, however, if you consider there to be any discrepancies or if there have been changes in the law of the country since our staff last updated the legal analysis, we welcome any additional information or insights. Please contact us via this form.
Civil Registration System
Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka
Civil Registration System
Coordination and Technology
Coordination and Technology
Data Sharing
Does the law require that the civil registration authority share data with the agency responsible for producing vital statistics, on a regular and timely basis?
Yes
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
The civil registration agency must submit statistical information collected during registration to the national statistics authority in order for the agency to compile and publish vital statistics. The law should therefore require and enable the regular and timely sharing of data needed for statistical purposes between the civil registration and statistics agency or agencies.
The Statistics Ordinance establishes the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), which is responsible for preparation of statistics. While the Ordinance does not expressly mention vital statitics, it empowers the DCS to require any person to provide requested information. It also empowers the DCS to work cooperatively with other other government entities.
Does the law block the use of technology, such as electronic collection, transmission and storage of data, within the civil registration system?
No
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
The use of computers, tablets and other electronic devices should be permitted for the collection of data for vital events, and it should be permitted for these data to be transmitted between government agencies and officials with the use of mobile technology or the Internet. Some older laws block the use of technology by requiring manual forms or processes,. Laws should enable technology. However, laws be technology neutral and not specify the method and mode of collection, transmission and storage of data in any civil registration system, as this may prevent system upgrades overtime.
The Births and Deaths Registration Act is silent on computerized civil registration. Section 15 of the BDRA generally require the informant to appear in person before the registrar to apply for vital event registration, and to sign the register if requested. There is a provision for applying via mail if it is not possible to attend in person, however there are fees attached to this process and the registrar can require the person to come to the office in person within 7 days. These provisions hinder the implementation of technology. In practice, registration occurs manually in divisions. The registration records are sent to the District Registrar who uploads these entries to a computerized system.
Is there a national coordinating committee to address issues on the functioning of the civil registration system and its integration with other systems, such as the health sector, vital statistics, national identity system, medicolegal death investigation, and others?
Yes
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
To achieve coordination, cooperation, and interoperability amongst various government agencies that govern civil registration, vital statistics compilation and identity management, a stakeholder coordination mechanism should be established. This coordination mechanism can take the form of an inter-agency civil registration, vital statistics and identity management committee, with representatives from each of the stakeholder agencies. Alternatively, a stakeholder coordination mechanism can be a single government agency empowered to coordinate the activities of civil registration, vital statistics and identity management stakeholders and oblige stakeholders to collaborate with the coordinating entity.
Sri Lanka established a CRVS Steering Committee comprised of various officials from the Ministry of Health, Registrar General's Department, Department of Census and Statistics, and the Ministry of Justice. The objective of this Steering Committee is to create a more robust and effective civil registration and vital statistics system.
