1. Civil Registration Process: Place, Time, Cost, Late Registration
Brisbane Accord Group
Session 7. Institutional arrangements and integration of civil registration, vital statistics, population registers and identity management
Civil Registration Process: Place, Time, Cost, Late Registration
UNITED NATIONS STATISTICS DIVISION
Workshop on Operation of Civil Registration, Vital Statistics and
Identity Management Systems and the Production of Vital Statistics Reports for the Eastern Mediterranean Countries (Group 1)
Casablanca, Morocco, March 2018
with

2. Primary purpose – establishing documents provided by law
Civil registration
Civil registration is
Continuous
Permanent
Compulsory, and
Universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events pertaining to the population
As provided through law, decree or regulation in accordance with the legal requirements of the country
Primary purpose – establishing documents provided by law
Secondary purpose – ideal source of vital statistics

3. Civil registration method
Refers to the procedure employed in gathering the basic information on the incidence and characteristics of vital events that occur in the population of the country
Upon which the preparation of vital records with legal value
And the production of vital statistics is based
Mandated by law
Civil registration system
Institutional, legal and technical settings needed for the performance of civil registration functions in a technical, sound, coordinated and standardized manner
Functions include
Recording vital events
Storing, safekeeping and retrieval of vital records
Protection of confidentiality
Issuing certificates and other customer service
Reporting information on vital events for statistical purposes
Providing information to other government agencies, such as ministry of health, population registers, pension funds systems, electoral services, personal identification services etc.

4. Fundamental role of the civil registration system
Provision of legal instruments to individuals, that is, registering the occurrence of acts and events that constitute the source of civil status and issuing certificates
Facts relating to existence
Identity
Civil status
Family status
Legal and protective function
Legal identity
Human rights
Directly linked to registration, such as the right to be registered and to have a name, as per Article 7 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child
Derived from the fact that the person is registered, such as the right to vote, pursuant to article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Administrative advantages
Access to services
Statistical advantages

5. Civil registration models
Centralized administration for civil registration
One agency dedicated to administering civil registration
Advantages
Uniformity of procedures throughout the country, standard legal framework
Uniform interpretation and enforcement of norms and regulations
More efficient interoperability with other government agencies, such as the identity management
Direct and effective control over the entire system
Facilitates and streamlines training and technical support
In terms of interoperability with statistical function
Separate agencies – one for civil registration and the other for statistical function
Coordination is of critical interest – Inter-agency Committee is invaluable
Memorandum of agreement – another option
Flow of data – procedures and protocols
Single agency for both civil registration and vital statistics

6. Civil registration models
Decentralized administration for civil registration
More than one model
Civil registration is administered by municipal government – uniform legal framework, content, forms (Europe)
Civil registration is administered by states or provinces – harmonization at the national level (Canada, US)
Other combinations
Major considerations
Ensuring uniformity of procedures throughout the country
Uniformity of legal framework
Harmonization at national level
Rules for recognition of different certificates
Statistical component

7. Civil registration models
Principles for coordination
Uniform legislation and regulations
Identical definitions of vital events
Statistical concepts, classifications and definitions
Consistency between the numerator and denominator
Implementation of international standards
Inter-agency coordination committee
Coordination within the system
Communication (conferences, workshops, training courses …)
Evaluation
Professional association (statisticians/registrars/health workers)

8. Civil registration and vital statistics
Separate agencies – critical issues
Coordination
Division of labour
Long list of characteristics of the vital event and the persons involved
Informants – extraordinary role – health institutions
Submit the notification form to the registrar
Registrar checks, validates and completes the information in the form
Official entry in the register, issues certificate
Registrar transmits the form (paper or electronic) to statistics
Statistics processes the form – data entry, coding, editing, compilation, dissemination

9. Civil registration and vital statistics
Administrative setup
Coordination Committee
Members: civil registration, national statistics, health authorities
Coordination Committee responsibilities
Developing instruction on
Definitions of vital events
Coding schemes
Generation of unique identifier
Content of form
Statistical classifications
Training curricula for informants, registrars and statisticians
Quality control
Field visits
Procedures and protocols for recording and reporting the events (deadlines, formats …)
Transmission protocols
Initiatives for revising legislative framework

10. Civil registration, vital statistics and population registers
Computerized database with a separate entry/record for each individual
Centralized at the national level, or
De-centralized, at the level of civil divisions
Registers are operated
Separate agency established for that purpose
Police, home affairs
Tax office
National statistical office
Other government office
Purpose
Primary function is to provide reliable information for the administrative purpose (programme planning, budgeting, taxation …)
Personal identification, voting, education, military service, social insurance and welfare, police and court reference
In reality, population register is organized as a set of databases that are linked by unique identifier

11. Civil registration, vital statistics and population registers
Registration process – very similar to the one presented
Long list of characteristics of the vital event and the persons involved
Informants – extraordinary role – health institutions
Submit the notification form to the registrar
Registrar checks, validates and completes the information in the form
Official entry in the population register, issues certificate
Statistics is accessing the population register and processes the data – coding, editing, compilation, dissemination
Considerations
Identical definitions and terminology – major challenge
Confidentiality of individual information
Advantages
Dynamic mechanisms updated on daily basis
Cost reduction
Better service delivery
Longitudinal research
Timely and comprehensive vital statistics

12. Civil registration, vital statistics and identity management
Cultural, ethnic, religious …
Legal identity is of paramount importance – access to services, exercise of basic human rights, entry in the legal framework
Identity is established by issuing birth certificate, with the name of the newborn, data and place of birth, names of parents – lasts for a lifetime – until the issuance of a death certificate
Contemporary challenges
Considerable number of persons without birth certificate as a consequence of inadequate and universal civil registration
Necessity of obtaining the information on the size and characteristics of population
Safety and security requirements in terms of identifying individuals
Solution: Establishing an identity management agency that will identify every individual, collect biometrics (fingerprints, iris scan, photographs) and issue an identity document
Challenge: Integrating civil registration and vital statistics in this paradigm

13. Civil registration, vital statistics and identity management
Integration
Integrating civil registration in the identity management function in two ways
Civil registration remains separate and provides direct input into population register that is also accessed by the identity management agency
Identity management agency directly incorporates civil registration function and is authorized to undertake official registration and issuance of certificates
Integrating vital statistics function – a sine qua non of a holistic approach - bigger challenge
National statistical system is well established in most countries and vital statistics is part of it
Neither civil registration nor identity management usually have advanced knowledge and understanding of statistics production
Holistic system
Informants and notifiers collect all the information as per international standards
Registrar validates and certifies the content, issues certificate, enters all the information into population register
Maintenance and operation of population register by the identity management agency
Statistics office develops protocols and procedures for extracting information from the register and produces regular and timely vital statistics

14. Vital Statistics System
Live births
Deaths
Fetal deaths
Marriages
Divorces
Annulments
Judicial
separations
Adoptions
Legitimation
Recognition
Health services
Certification of
cause of death
Authorized
institutions
Courts
Civil
Registration, including population registers
Principles:
Compulsory
Universal
Continuous
Confidentiality
Vital
Statistics
Compilation
Processing
Validation
Quality control
Dissemination
Complementary/
Interim sources
Population census
Surveys
Sample registration
areas
Additional
administrative
sources
Coronary
Police
Registries
Health records
National IDs’
Electoral lists
Passports …