Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1999 (Tas)

Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1999

An Act to provide for the registration of births, deaths and marriages and to provide legal recognition for trans and gender-diverse Tasmanians and those with innate variations of sex characteristics [Royal Assent 24 November 1999]

Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled, as follows:

PART 1 - Preliminary

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1999 .

2. Commencement (1) Sections 1 , 2 and 62 commence on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent. (2) The remaining provisions of this Act commence on a day to be proclaimed.

3. Interpretation In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears – adult means a person who is aged 18 years or older or, although under that age, is or has been married; authorised celebrant means an authorised celebrant under the Marriage Act 1961 of the Commonwealth, as amended; birth means the expulsion or extraction of a child from its mother; birth registration statement means the statement referred to in section 13 ; change of name includes an addition, omission or substitution; child includes a stillborn child; corresponding law means a law of another State that provides for the registration of births, deaths and marriages; death does not include a stillbirth; disposal of human remains means – (a) cremation of the remains; or (b) burial of the remains, including burial at sea; or (c) placing the remains in a mausoleum or other permanent resting place; or (d) placing the remains in the custody of an educational or scientific institution for the purpose of medical education or research; or (e) removal of the remains from the State (but not if the remains have been cremated or are taken from the State by sea and buried at sea in the course of the voyage); funeral director means a person who carries on the business of arranging for the disposal of human remains; gender – see section 3A ; gender amendments day means the day on which Part 4 of the Justice and Related Legislation (Marriage and Gender Amendments) Act 2019 commences; gender declaration means a statutory declaration in which the declarant declares that the declarant identifies as being of the gender specified in the declaration and lives, or seeks to live, as a person of that gender; midwife means a person registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Tasmania) in the midwifery profession; previous registered gender, in relation to a person, means a gender that was the registered gender in relation to the person before section 28C(7) applied in relation to the registered gender; previous registered sex, in relation to a person, means a sex that was the registered sex in relation to the person before section 28C(7) applied in relation to the registered sex; prohibited name means a name that – (a) is obscene or offensive; or (b) could not practicably be established by repute or usage – (i) because it is too long; or (ii) because it consists of or includes symbols without phonetic significance; or (iii) for some other reason; or (c) includes or resembles an official title or rank; or (d) is contrary to the public interest for some other reason; recognition certificate means a certificate that – (a) is issued under a law of another State or a Territory that recognises that a person may have changed sex or gender; and (b) is issued in respect of a person who has changed sex or gender; and (c) states the sex or gender of that person as so changed; Register means the Register referred to in section 40 ; registered gender, in relation to a person, means the registered gender in relation to the person that is registered under section 28C(1) and that has not ceased in accordance with section 28C(7) to be the registered gender in relation to the person; registered sex, in relation to a person, means – (a) the sex that is registered under section 16(3) or (4) in relation to the person; or (b) the sex of the person that was last registered under this Act in relation to the person before the gender amendments day – if that sex has not ceased in accordance with section 28C(7) to be the registered sex in relation to the person; registering authority means an authority responsible under a corresponding law for the registration of births, deaths and marriages; registrable event means a birth, change of name, death, marriage or adoption; registrable information means information that must or may be included in the Register; Registrar means the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages; regulations means regulations made and in force under this Act; sex characteristics means a person's physical, hormonal or genetic features relating to sex, including genitalia and other sexual and reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, genes, hormones, and secondary sexual characteristics; State includes a Territory; stillbirth means the birth of a stillborn child; stillborn child means a child of at least 20 weeks' gestation or, if it cannot be reliably established whether the period of gestation is more or less than 20 weeks, with a body mass of at least 400 grams at birth, that exhibits no sign of respiration or heartbeat or other sign of life after birth.