# The Births and Deaths Registration (Electronic Communications and Electronic Storage) Order 2021, Article 2: Amendment of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1926


(1) The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1926 is amended as follows.
(2) In section 1 (prohibition of disposal except on registrar’s certificate or coroner’s order), after subsection (1), insert—
“(1A) For the purposes of subsection (1), a certificate, an order of the coroner or a written declaration may be delivered as a copy in an approved electronic form.
(1B) A declaration under subsection (1) may be made in an approved electronic form.”.
(3) In section 3 (notification of disposal to registrar), after subsection (1), insert—
“(3) A notification under subsection (1) may be made and delivered in an approved electronic form.”.
(4) In section 5 (burial of still-born children), after “delivered to him”, insert “(either physically or as a copy in an approved electronic form)”.
(5) In section 9 (regulations)—
(a) in the heading, after “Regulations”, insert “and approval of electronic forms etc.”;
(b) the existing text becomes subsection (1);
(c) after that subsection, insert—
“(2) The Registrar General may approve forms of electronic communication or electronic storage (including an electronic signature) for the purposes of a provision of this Act.”.
(6) In section 12 (definitions), after the definition of “Registrar”, insert—
““approved electronic form” means any form of electronic communication or electronic storage (including an electronic signature) approved by the Registrar General pursuant to section 9(2) of this Act;”.
(7) After the definition of “disposal”, insert—
““electronic communication” has the meaning given in section 15(1) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000;
“electronic signature” has the meaning given in section 7(2) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000;”.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/1231/article/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/births-and-deaths-registration-electronic-communications-and-electronic-storage-order-2021/article-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.