Reporting all births will become compulsory in Singapore, but citizens may not register the death of a family member, under the new proposed law changes.
The new rule was announced after the first reading in Parliament on Monday (10 May). This regulation allow the Government to have a more comprehensive record of all births in the country.
Registering A Birth To Become Compulsory
The new bill will make births outside hospital compulsory to be reported. Parents will need to go to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to report the birth in person.
Anybody who fails to do so will be fined you up to $1,500 and jailed for a month.
The only caveat here is that only a parent or a legally appointed person can register the birth, if the bill is passed. According to the Home Affairs Ministry, a legally appointed person can either be:
- The legal guardian of the child
- The protector of the child appointed under the Children and Young Persons Act
- The director-general of social welfare from the Ministry of Social and Family Development
The Registrar-General of Births and Deaths will also have powers to register a birth if no application was made or if the application is incomplete.
Under these new rules, ICA officers will take over from the police the investigation of offences that are related to registering births and deaths.
No Need To Register The Death Of A Relative
Under the new rules for deaths, family members will no longer need to provide the particulars of a dead person at a registration centre. The information will be automatically registered once the death certificate is issued.
Relatives will also no longer need to surrender the dead person's NRIC for invalidation since this will also be done automatically. But they will be held responsible for destroying their late family member's NRIC. This is to ensure that it will not be misused.
Family members can download the digital death certificate from My Legacy. (My Legacy is a website that provides information on post-death matters).
The bill will also make it compulsory for all deaths to be reported to a medical practitioner, as soon as possible.
This rule will also apply to deaths that occur on an aircraft, vessel and/or train bound for Singapore. In such cases, a family member of the deceased who is on-board or the person-in-charge of the vehicle have to report the death.
The new rules will give authorities the power to register a local death before the coroner's certificate is issued. This includes where the body of the deceased is destroyed, irrecoverable or if it cannot be located.
This is provided if the registrar-general is satisfied with whether there is sufficient evidence to identify the deceased. Also, whether it shows that the death occurred in Singapore.
News source: The Straits Times
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