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Civil Registration System
Zambia
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Zambia
Civil Registration System
Local Civil Registrations
Local Civil Registrations
Powers and Responsibilities of Local Civil Registrars
Is the local civil registrar empowered by law to register vital events? If yes, do they have the power to issue certificates of registration?
Yes local civil registrar empowered to register vital events and issue certificates
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Legislation should clearly state the duties and powers of local registrars (the civil registrar responsible for the primary registration area), which include recording and registering vital events in compliance with registration laws, and issuing certificates or copies of vital records upon request, without needing approval from the central level.
Notices of births, stillbirths and deaths are given to the district-level Registrar, who registers the event. Sections 7-8 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act require Registrars to regularly forward all notices of vital events and medical certificates of cause of death to the Registrar-General, who maintains central registers of births, stillbirths and deaths. Rule 5 of the Births and Deaths Registration (General) Rules empowers officials at every level to issue birth and death certificates on application; this includes the Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar and Assistant Registrar. Certified copies of entries in the registers can be issued only by the Registrar-General in terms of Section 11 of the Act.
Does the registrar (local or other level) have the authority to correct minor errors (such as data entry errors and typographical errors)? If yes, are such changes free of charge?
Yes, a registrar can correct minor errors free of charge
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Legislation should authorize the local civil registrar to make minor corrections such as typographical and data entry errors in civil registration records. Such corrections should be free of charge.
Corrections of clerical errors may be made only by the Registrar-General. Corrections must be made without erasing the original entry and authenticated by the signature of the Registrar-General. There appears to be no charge for such corrections.
As a procedure for ensuring accuracy, the Registrar-General, Deputy Registrar-General, Registrar or Assistant Registrar is required to register births and deaths in the presence of the informant and then ask the informant to verify the particulars, so that any error can be rectified immediately in the presence of the informant.
Does the registrar (local or other level) have the power to add omitted information (such as name of baby, in the case of late naming, and paternity information)?
Yes, a registrar can add omitted information, for a fee
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Legislation should authorize the local civil registrar to add uncontested information such as uncontested paternity information, and add omitted information such as adding or amending the name of a child within a defined time period.
Alterations to a child’s name may be made by the Registrar-General. In terms of Section 17 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, a child's parent or guardian may add or alter the child’s name within two years of the initial birth registration upon providing any evidence for the name change that the Registrar-General may think necessary. The fee for a name change on a birth certificate is 15 fee units. (The value of fee units is adjusted from time to time; as of 2024 one fee point was equivalent to 40 ngwee, making the fee for name changes on birth certificates 6 kwacha.)
The procedure for adding or altering paternity information is not clear. Where a child was born outside marriage, a person can be registered as the child’s father in terms of Section 15 of the Act on the joint request of the mother and the father, accompanied by a written acknowledgement of paternity made in the presence of the Registrar – but it is not clear if this can take place only at the time of initial registration or in the form of later supplementation of the birth register. The Children’s Code Act includes procedures for proof of paternity (including orders for paternity tests) in various contexts, including the child’s right to establish the identity of his or her biological parents. This law contains no directions for altering the birth register or amending birth certificates to reflect this information, but requires that court declarations of paternity or affiliation orders (court orders declaring a man to be the father of a child) must be communicated to the Registrar-General for filing.
Does the law require the local civil registration office to transmit registration records to the national civil registration authority on a regular and timely basis?
Yes
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
The legislation should set time frames for transfer of information from the local register to the centralized register. The time frames may vary based on policymakers' discretion, depending on whether the system is computerized or non-computerized.
Registrars have a duty to sign and forward all notices of birth or death and all medical certificates of the cause of death received by them to the Registrar-General by registered post “forthwith”. They are also required to submit statistical returns concerning births, still-births and deaths extracted from the records kept at district level “at such times and in such manner as the Registrar-General may direct”.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Zambia is in the process of establishing an Integrated National Registration Information System (INRIS), which is an interconnected digital system for the management of civil registration and national identity.
Does the law provide the criteria or required qualifications for appointing, designating, or selecting local registrars?
To some extent
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
It is important that the law provide clear requirements governing fitness and qualifications of local civil registrars. To prevent corruption, the law should provide that registrars be full-time public service officials, with defined terms of employment and adequate salary level.
All District Secretaries for the existing administrative districts of Zambia are deemed to have been appointed Registrars of Births and Deaths for their respective districts. Registrars must be public officers – although the Minister may confer the powers and duties of a Registrar on any person on a temporary basis in a district where there is no Registrar. The law contains no other criteria or qualifications.
All Assistant District Secretaries are deemed to have been appointed Deputy Registrars of Births and Deaths for their respective districts. The only requirement for Assistant Registrars who operate at sub-centers is that they must be “suitable persons”.
