“Birth certificates older than 6 months shall be accepted, decided the Office for Management of Registers following the Portalb.mk research” – News Agency Meta.mk

Photo: Suad Bajrami, Portalb.mk

The Office for Management of Registers informs that it has issued a decision to accept birth certificates older than six months. This was stated after Portalb.mk published the research in which citizens complained, and the Office confirmed, that they were asked for certificates not older than six months. With the new decision, the Office will no longer oblige citizens who wish to get married to obtain new birth certificates. The official will check the data from the birth certificates that the citizens already have. If the citizens do not have a birth certificate, they will get married only with an identification document, and the birth certificates will be provided by the official, reports Portalb.mk.

According to the Family Law, the first step when you wish to get married is to make a registration and a record of the marriage by the registrar, and as accompanying documents the birth certificates of the persons who are getting married are needed.

According to the new decision, the marriage procedure will no longer require citizens to provide birth certificates, but the registrar will do so if the citizens themselves have not provided the certificates before. Citizens only need to identify themselves with a personal identification document, and then the registrar enters the data and completes the administrative procedures.

“In all other procedures conducted in the Office, and where a birth certificate must be submitted as proof, a certificate older than 6 months is accepted, only if it has a stamp of unlimited validity,” – the Office told Portalb.mk

They add that the Office as an institution will not require certificates “not older than six months”, but other institutions have their own rules.

“For other state institutions and legal entities (banks), which require certificates from citizens not older than six months, these are rules that they themselves have set in their work,” said the Office for Management of Registers.

Previously, Portalb.mk conducted research on the reasons why citizens are required to submit certificates not older than six months in the procedures conducted by the Office for Management of Registers.

The Office confirmed that they require certificates not older than six months because, as they said, the citizens are abusing the data and confirmed that they have even adopted an internal order for this.

“Every document has a stamp that the person who submits the data is responsible for their accuracy under moral, material and criminal responsibility. But in practice, this is not the case. Due to the change of names, addresses, marital status, acceptance or non-acceptance of motherhood, i.e. paternity, citizens do not report the changes in the legal system and use old data. By doing so, they make bigamy when it comes to marriage when changing name or surname when it comes to identity and the like. In this way, a series of violations are committed, which until they are discovered, cause great damage,” said the Office for Management of Registers, adding that the period of 6 months is considered the optimal time for sorting the data in the registry.

According to the experts contacted by Portalb.mk, this order was illegal.

Portalb.mk, from reliable state sources, provided information that after the publication of the story, the Office for Management of Registers changed this internal order.

 

The Office for Management of Registers contradicts itself

 

Portalb.mk requested details from the Office for this information and they sent us an e-mail with the data we elaborated above, emphasizing that this decision entered into force on 1 April 2021. According to this, the Office gives contradictory answers.

Portalb.mk asked officials from this institution to see approval dates of these two internal orders, but the Office did not submit them to us.

Additionally, the Office has not published any notification on this issue on its website where the activities of this Office are published. However, this does not deny the fact that this institution has so far requested certificates “not older than six months”, given the complaints that reached our editorial office, but also the reactions of citizens on social networks, after we published the story.

You can read the comments of the citizens on FB on the following links: Portalb.mkMeta.mkICEDA.

Portalb.mk clarified this issue and informed the citizens that from now on the Office for Management of Registers cannot ask for a new certificate. Couples can only get married with IDs or passports, while all other documents must be provided by the registrar. In cases when the administrators or employees act contrary to this, we appeal to the citizens to report the case to the Office, and if the Office does not respond, to report it to our editorial office.

This research story was prepared as part of the project Increasing Civic Engagement in the Digital Agenda – ICEDA, co-funded by the European Union and implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation (North Macedonia), Academy for e-Government (Estonia), Levizja Mjaft! (Albania), CRTA – Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (Serbia), NGO 35mm (Montenegro) and ODK – Open Data Kosovo (Kosovo).

This research story was prepared with the financial support of the European Union. The contents of this research story are the sole responsibility of the Metamorphosis Foundation and the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

Link to the original article: https://meta.mk/nema-da-se-baraat-izvodi-od-matichnata-kniga-na-rodeni-shto-ne-se-postari-od-6-meseci-odluchi-uvmk-po-istrazhuvanjeto-na-portalb-mk/

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