Registrar General's Births and Deaths Regulations


1988 Revised Edition






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REGISTRAR GENERAL'S BIRTHS AND
DEATHS REGULATIONS

Registrar General's Births and Deaths
Regulations

CAP. 42A Arrangement of
Regulations





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REGISTRAR GENERAL'S BIRTHS AND DEATHS
REGULATIONS

Arrangement of Regulations
Regulation
1 Short title..........................................................................................................5

PART I - ORGANISATION 5
2 Sub-registries. ..................................................................................................5
3 District and Town Officers. .............................................................................6

PART II - STANDING PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION OF
BIRTHS AND DEATHS 7
4 Office hours. ....................................................................................................7
5 Procedure for registration. ...............................................................................7
6 Married woman registering an illegitimate. .....................................................8
7 Registering overseas births and deaths. ...........................................................8
8 Alterations in the register of Births..................................................................8
9 Amendments to the Register of Deaths............................................................9
10 Adoption. .........................................................................................................9
11 Legitimation...................................................................................................10
12 Red ink notes. ................................................................................................11


THE SCHEDULE 12

LESISITA FA'ELE.............................................................................................12

Arrangement of Regulations CAP.
42A

Registrar General's Births and Deaths
Regulations





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BIRTH REGISTRATION...................................................................................12

LISISITA PEKIA ...............................................................................................13

DEATH REGISTRATION .................................................................................13

Registrar General's Births and Deaths Regulations CAP. 42A Regulation 1




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REGISTRAR GENERAL'S BIRTHS AND DEATHS
REGULATIONS

Made by the Registrar General

G.S. 123/79, G.S. 3/8, Act 46/1988

BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES REGISTRATION ACT

[28 September, 1979]

1 Short title.
These Regulations may be cited as the Registrar General's Births and Deaths
Regulations.

PART I - ORGANISATION

2 Sub-registries.
(1) Every Sub-Registrar as described in section 2 of the Births, Deaths and

Marriages Registration Act shall designate one of his clerks to be the
registration clerk.

(2) He shall notify the name of this clerk to the Registrar General.

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(3) If this clerk is for any reason not available the sub-registrar will designate
another clerk to take his place. If the substitution is likely to be for more
than one month, the Registrar General must be informed.

(4) In the Central Registry, which also acts as the sub-registry for Tongatapu,
the sub-Registrar will be assisted by the Vital Statistics Officer and such
clerks as the Registrar General shall direct.

(5) It shall be the duty of the Vital Statistics Officer to visit each sub-registry
at least once every year and to report to the Registrar General on his visit.

3 District and Town Officers.
(1) Town Officers will report to their District Officers on the first day of each

calendar month all births and deaths in their town that have come to their
notice during the previous month. The report will be made on Form V.S.3
as in Schedule 3 to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act.

If no births or deaths have occurred, Form V.S.3 with “none” written on it
will be sent.

(2)
(a) Not later than the 15th day of each Calendar Month District

Officers will forward the V.S.3 forms relating to the previous
month to the sub-Registrar of the area in which their District lies.

(b) If there is no V.S.3 form from any town the District Officer will
give an explanation and state what steps are being taken to obtain
the relevant information.

(c) If a District Officer becomes aware of any birth or death in respect
of which there is no entry on a V.S.3 form, he will himself make
out a V.S.3 form showing the town in which the event occurred and
clearly mark the V.S.3 form “District Officer's Report”, and send it
with the next lot of V.S.3 forms to the Sub-Registrar.

(3) The Vital Statistics Officer will visit District Officers and Town Officers
at least once every year and report to the Registrar General on his visit.

(4) The Vital Statistics Officer shall keep in touch with the Ministry of Health
to ensure that the data available from the Ministry is used to check the
information provided by Sub-Registrars.

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PART II - STANDING PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION
OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS

4 Office hours.
(1) All registries shall be open from 8.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays to Fridays

except on Official Holidays.

(2) The designated clerk shall be available for the time necessary to register
all births and deaths reported in a day. Every effort must be made to
ensure that no person wishing to register is sent away without receiving
attention.

5 Procedure for registration.
(1) When a member of the public attends at a Sub-Registry to notify a birth or

death he or she will be required to fill in, assisted by the clerk, and sign a
registration form in the Form V.S.10 for births and V.S.11 for deaths as in
the Schedule to these regulations.

(2) After the member of the public has completed the form but before it is
signed the clerk shall read the form slowly to the person notifying the
event and ask if it is correct. The clerk shall take every possible care to
ensure that the form is correct.

(3) The clerk will then make a copy of the form, sign it, seal it and hand it to
the member of the public.

(4) The original will be filed.

(5) The original will be copied into the Register and signed by the person
notifying.

(6) The clerk who copies the form into the Register shall initial it.

(7) When a person reports a death, that person shall be asked if the deceased
was attended by a doctor, and, if so, the doctor's name and appointment.
The answers to these questions shall be noted on the form.

(8) When an inquest is ordered, or the Minister of Police notifies a Sub-
Registrar that a prosecution is pending in which some person is accused of
causing the death of the deceased, the death shall not be registered until
the inquest or trial has been completed. The notifying form shall be filled
in and retained until it can be registered.

(9) Wherever the death of a person is registered and it appears to the Sub-
Registrar that the deceased was not a Tongan subject, an extra copy of the
death certificate shall be made and forwarded to the Central Registry with

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a letter stating the nationality the deceased is believed to have possessed
when he or she died.

6 Married woman registering an illegitimate.
(1) A married woman may not register her child as illegitimate until a

Supreme Court order to this effect has been made. Application for such an
order may be made in writing supported by affidavits of independent
persons as required by Section 44 of the Evidence Act (Cap. 15).

(2) Unless a Judge of the Supreme Court dispenses with the requirement a
copy of the Application must be served on the husband of the Applicant.

(3) The Judge of the Supreme Court dealing with the matter may request the
Crown Law Office to represent the interests of the infant and may order
the husband, wife and any witness to attend for cross examination.

7 Registering overseas births and deaths.
Any person who wishes to register the birth or death of a Tongan that has
occurred outside the Kingdom must act as follows:

(1) Produce at or send to the Central Registry the Official birth or death
certificate of the country in which the event occurred.

(2) File an affidavit stating:
(a) His relationship to or connection with the person the subject of the

registration.
(b) His grounds for believing that person is or was a Tongan.
(c) That he believes the certificate produced to be genuine and its

contents true.

(3) Upon the production of these documents the Sub-Registrar shall cause the
birth or death to be recorded in a special register, unless he doubts the
truth of the affidavit.

8 Alterations in the register of Births.
(1) Alterations to a register of births are only to be made on the written

authority of the Registrar General.

(2)
(a) Any person wishing to effect an alteration in a register of births

other than an alteration of the surname of the person whose birth is
recorded must file an affidavit to which shall be exhibited the birth
certificate which it is designed to alter.

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(b) The affidavit shall set out the entry it is proposed to substitute for
the entry exhibited.

(c) The affidavit shall state the reasons as far as known why a wrong
entry was originally made.

(3) The applicant shall supply any additional information that the Registrar
General may require.

(4) The Registrar General may, if he considers it in the interest of the
applicant and in the public interest, order re-registration, which shall be
done in the current register and cross-indexed with the original.

(5) Alterations of surnames can only be made in accordance with the
Supreme Court Change of Name Rules.1

(6)
(a) Names other than surnames cannot be altered except where there

has been a mere clerical error. A person who is habitually known by
a forename other than that in the register may swear an affidavit
stating the fact in front of a sub-Registrar who will witness the
affidavit and if satisfied as to its truth affix the court seal.

(b) When there is a clerical error, the alteration may be made by
writing the correct entry over the original in red ink. The original
entry shall not be in any way defaced. Before making the red ink
correction the Sub-Registrar shall be consulted.

9 Amendments to the Register of Deaths.
(1) Such amendments will only be made on the written order of the Registrar

General.

(2) Applications shall be made as in regulation 8(2) and 8(3). Alterations
ordered shall be made as in regulation 8(4) and 8(6)(b).

10 Adoption.
(1) When an adoption order is made the original entry in the Birth Register

will not be altered in any way except by adding in red the letters 'AD' and
the number of the adoption order.


1 See under the Subsidiary Legislation to the Supreme Court Act. (Cap.
10, p. S-17.)



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(2) When a birth certificate is required it will be issued in the “adopted” form.
A certificate in the original form will not be issued without the written
authority of the Registrar General.

(3) Certificates in the “adopted” form will only be issued out of the Central
Registry.

(4) Information contained in adoption files will not be given to any person
except on the written authority of the Registrar General.

(5) Adoption files will be kept in a secure place under the personal control of
the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

11 Legitimation.
(1) Evidence required for registration —

(a) Where both parents wish to register their child as legitimate the
following evidence will be required by the Sub-Registrar
concerned.
(i) The birth certificate of the person to be legitimated.
(ii) The Marriage Certificate of his parents.
(iii) An affidavit sworn by each parent deposing to the fact that he

or she was not married to a third person when the person to
be legitimated was born.

(iv) That the father of the person to be legitimated was domiciled
in Tonga at the date of Marriage.

(b) Where only one parent wishes to register the birth as legitimate:
(i) If the entry in the register shows the father's name then the

same documentation as in (1)(a) above, save that it shall only
be necessary to depose to the best of the knowledge and
belief of the person registering that the other parent was
unmarried at the date of birth.

(ii) If the entry in the register does not show the father's name,
then, in addition to the documents required by (1)(b)(i)
above, the Court Order establishing the paternity.

(2)
(a) The Sub-Registrar shall verify that the application is made within 3

months of the marriage.
(b) If it is not within 3 months he shall require the payment of a fee of

50 seniti before re-registering.

(3) Any person applying under Section 9 of the Legitimacy Act (Cap. 32)
shall annex to his petition on filing it:

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(a) An affidavit showing that he is domiciled in Tonga; such affidavit
shall contain the following information to the best of knowledge
and belief: —
(i) His present place of residence.
(ii) How long he has been there.
(iii) How long he intends to stay there.
(iv) His place of birth.
(v) Any periods spent in foreign countries.
(vi) Does he own any land in Tonga.
(vii) Does he own a house in Tonga.
(viii) Where his family, if any, lives.
(ix) The place of residence of his father at the time of his

birth, or,
(b) The claim to personal or real estate in Tonga as mentioned in

Section 9(1) of the Legitimacy Act, identifying the estate and
giving brief particulars of the grounds on which he claims.

Re-registration.

(4) Re-registration shall take place in the following manner: —
(a) The original registration shall not be altered but shall be monitored

with a red 'L' and the date of legitimation.
(b) The re-registration shall be made as soon as possible in the current

birth register.
(c) The re-registration shall follow precisely the terms of the original

registration save that:
(i) The child's surname shall be entered as that of the father.
(ii) Legitimate shall be substituted for illegitimate.
(iii) The father's name shall be entered if it does not already

appear.
(d) The Re-registration shall have a reference in red ink to the

original entry.

12 Red ink notes.
Red ink notes made under Regulation 11 shall not be copied onto birth
certificates. (Amended, Act 46/1988.)



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THE SCHEDULE

Form V.S.10

LESISITA FA'ELE

BIRTH REGISTRATION

Hingoa 'o e Tamasi'i ............................................................
Name of Child
Fa'ele'i 'i fe ............................................................
Place of Birth
Fa'ele'i 'anefe ............................................................
Date of Birth
Tangata pe Fefine ............................................................
Sex
Tamai ............................................................
Father's Name
Fa'ele'i 'i fe ............................................................
Place of Birth
Fa'e mo e Ta'umotu'a ............................................................
Mother's Name & Age
Fa'ele'i 'i fe ............................................................
Place of Birth
Tama Mall pe 'Ikai ............................................................
Legitimate or Illegitimate
Tohinima 'o e Lesisita ............................................................
By whom registered
(Mata'itohi Lahi) Capitals
Fakamo'oni Hingoa ............................................................
Signature
Fakamo'oni (initials) 'a e
Kalake Tauhi Lekooti ............................................................
Initials of Clerk Recording

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Form V.S. 11

LISISITA PEKIA

DEATH REGISTRATION

Hingoa 'o ia kuo pekia .............................................................
Name of Deceased
Na'e pekia 'i fe .............................................................
Where Death Occurred
Na'e Pekia 'Anefe .............................................................
Date of Death
Tangata pe Fefine .............................................................
Sex
Ta'u 'o e Pekia .............................................................
Age
Kohai na'e malanga .............................................................
Clergyman (Officiating)
Na'e mali pe 'ikai .............................................................
Married or Single
Fiha 'ene Fanau .............................................................
Number of children
Fiha kei mo'ui .............................................................
Number still Living
'Aho 'o e Lesisita .............................................................
Date of Registration
Hingoa 'o e Tamai .............................................................
Name of Father
Hingoa 'o e Fa'e .............................................................
Name of Mother
Tupu'anga 'o e Mate .............................................................
Cause of Death or Symptom
Hingoa 'o e Toketa kapau na'e 'i ai ha .............................................................
toketa
Name of Doctor attending if any
Tohi Fakamo'oni 'o e IAsisita .............................................................
Name of person notifying death
Fakamo'oni (initials) 'a e
Kalake Tauhi Lekooti .............................................................
Initials of Clerk Recording